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SELECTIONS FROM 



THE 



IDYLLS OF THE KING 



By ALFRED TENNYSON 



EDITED BY MARY F. WILLARD 

OF - HE JOHN MARSHALL HIGH SCHOOL, CHICAGO 




AMERICAN • BOOK • COMPANY 
NEW YORK- CINCINNATI • CHICAGO 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Chap. Copyright No..— — . 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



ECLECTIC ENGLISH CLASSICS 



SELECTIONS FROM 



IDYLLS OF 'THE KING 



By ALFRED TENNYSON 



EDITED BY MARY F. WILLARD 

OF THE JOHN MARSHALL HIGH SCHOOL, CHICAGO 



NEW YORK • : • CINCINNATI • ' • CHICAGO 
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 



46606 



Libpajpy of Concrresa 

■•vi'O Copies Receued 
SEP 13 1900 

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SECOND COPY. 

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Copyright, 1900, by 
American Book Company 



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INTRODUCTION. 



The Idylls of the King consists of twelve poems deal- 
ing with the life of King Arthur and his knights of the 
Round Table. The collection is prefaced by a dedication 
to Prince Albert, who had warmly admired the four Idylls 
published before his death, and is appropriately closed by 
an address to the Queen. 

The poems as a whole constitute a true English epic, or, 
perhaps more exactly, a true British epic, and the only one 
which English-speaking people can properly call their own ; 
for not only are they written in the English language, but 
they deal with British personages and their scenes are laid 
on British soil. The tales cluster about Arthur as their 
central figure, and are given a spiritual unity by the inti- 
mate association of the Holy Grail with the narrative. Like 
most of the other great epics of the world, the tales end in 
darkness and desolation, but we are not left without the 
thought of the dawn to follow the dark, the new sun which 
is to bring in the new year. 

Tennyson, in his " Dedication to the Queen," speaks of 
the poems as an allegory, for he says of them that they are 

" New-old, and shadowing Sense at war with Soul, 
Rather than that gray king, whose name, a ghost. 
Streams like a cloud, man-shaped, from mountain peak." 

But we must not press this allegorical interpretation too 

closely. In many of the best of the Idylls the allegory is 

5 



6 INTRODUCTION. 

lost sight of altogether, and in none is it really insisted upon 
throughout except in the " Passing of Arthur." Symbol- 
ism is more common, however, and adds a spiritual and 
imaginative touch to what was mere detail in the picture 
in the old legends from which Tennyson drew the subject- 
matter for his great poems. 

The Idylls stand easily first among Tennyson's poems in 
grace and elaboration of language and in human interest. 
Though not so fruitful to the thoughtful mind as " In 
Memoriam," they appeal to a far wider audience. In addi- 
tion to the technical perfection of the poetry in them, and 
the charm of an interesting story well told, there can be 
found in them a moral significance and insight fitted for 
the highest aspirations of mankind. The pictures which 
they present to us of society in the days of chivalry may 
not be historically true, but they are so magnificent that the 
reader is not inclined to criticise them. Stedman, in his 
" Victorian Poets," says of the Idylls : 

" It is the epic of chivalry, — the Christian ideal of chiv- 
alry which we have deduced from a barbaric source, — our 
conception of what knighthood should be rather than what 
it really was ; but so skilfully wrought of high imaginings, 
faery spells, fantastic legends, and mediaeval splendors, that 
the whole work, sufifused with the Tennysonian glamour of 
golden mist, seems like a chronicle illuminated by saintly 
hands, and often blazes with light like that which flashed 
from the holy wizard's book when the covers were un- 
clasped." 



INTRODUCTION. 



THE ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE IDYLLS. 

The legends on which Tennyson founded his Idylls are 
of very ancient date. They were first told perhaps in Wales 
and Cornwall while our wild ancestors were crossing from 
their German homes to the greener shores of England ; for 
it is nearly fifteen hundred years since the beginnings oi 
these stories were chanted by the Cymric bards to please 
their half-savage masters at their feasts. The people of 
Brittany, in north France, were of the same blood as the 
inhabitants of Wales and Cornwall, and the stories were 
told south of the English Channel as well as north, and it 
is said were first written in Brittany, though both the book 
and the name of the author are now unknown to us. One 
Geoffrey, a monk of Monmouth in Wales, was the first 
to put them into a literary form which has survived to 
our day. In 1147 he published his " Historia Britonum " 
(translated into early English by Layamon about 1205), a 
history of England in Latin, which incorporates such of the 
stories about Arthur as were known to GeoffreyJ He takes 
no credit to himself for the tales, but states that he has 
merely translated them from the Welsh tongue into Latin, 
and that he obtained them from an ancient book which his 
friend the Archdeacon of Oxford had brought from Brit- 
tany. After this the tales were written into Norman French, 
then the language of the court and the one which the story 
writer must perforce adopt, by several writers, the most 
famous of whom is Walter Map, the brilliant, witty, anc 
accomplished churchman of the court of Henry II. It is 
to this clever and learned man that we really owe the stories 
in the form which Tennyson adopted later. He it was who 
christianized the tales, and gave them a spiritual unity by 
the introduction of the Grail legend. Last in the line be- 
fore Tennyson comes Sir Thomas Malory, who, at the re- 



8 INTRODUCTION. 

quest of Caxton, our first printer, translated the Norman 
French of Map, Wace, and De Boron into the fresh, idio- 
matic EngHsh of the time of Henry VII. The book was 
pubHshed in 1485 under the title of " Morte Darthur," a 
name which Walter Alap had used for the romance in which 
he told of the death of Arthur. Caxton wrote a preface for 
it and tells us how the book happened to be written. " After 
that I had accomplished and finished divers histories, . . . . 
many noble and divers gentlemen of this realm of England 
came and demanded me many and ofttimes, wherefore that 
I have not do made and imprint the noble history of the 
Saint Greal, and of the most renowned Christian king, first 
and chief of the three best Christian, and worthy, King 
Arthur, which ought most to be remembered amongst us 
Englishmen tofore all other Christian kings. . . . The 
said noble gentlemen instantly required me to imprint the 
history of the said noble king and conqueror. King Arthur 
and of his knights, with the history of the Saint Greal, and 
of the death and ending of the said Arthur ; affirming that 
I ought rather to imprint his acts and noble feats, than of 
Godfrey of Boloine, . . . considering that he was a 
man born within this realm, and king and emperor of the 
same: and that there be in French divers and many noble 
volumes of his acts, and also of his knights. . . . Where- 
fore I have after the simple conning that God has sent to 
me, . . . enprised to imprint a book of the noble his- 
tories of the said King Arthur, and of certain of his 
knights, after a copy unto me delivered, which copy Sir 
Thomas Malorye did take out of certain books of French, 
and reduced it into English." 

The " Morte Darthur " was a book of unbounded popu- 
larity in its own day and is still curious and interesting to 
readers. As a boy Tennyson doubtless pored over its mar- 
velous pages, and early in his literary career began to ex- 
periment with rendering fragments of the tales into poetic 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

form. In his second volume, 1832, was published the first 
version of the " Lady of Shalott," the first study of the 
subject which afterward had its final form in the perfect 
poem entitled " Lancelot and Elaine." In the volume of 
1842 appeared " Sir Galahad," '' Sir Lancelot and Queen 
Guinevere," and the " Morte d'Arthur, a Fragment," writ- 
ten as early as 1835 and afterward included in the " Pass- 
ing of Arthur." 

Fifteen years elapsed before the poet again touched the 
legends which had so fascinated his youth. At last, in 
July, 1850, appeared the volume in the preparation of which 
he had spent the preceding two years, containing the four 
poems " Enid" (afterward divided into two parts), "Viv- 
ien," " Elaine," and " Guinevere." From that time until 
1855, when " Balin and Balan," the last of the series, ap- 
peared, Tennyson was largely occupied in the composition 
of the remaining poems. In 1888 the " Idylls of the King " 
w^as published as complete, the poems being arranged in 
the order in which the poet wished them to stand. 



HISTORY IN THE ARTHURIAN LEGENDS. 

The only references to Arthur by a writer who can be 
called at all contemporaneous with his own time are made 
by Llywarch Hen, a bard attached to the court of Geraint, 
a warrior-chief of Devon. Arthur is simply mentioned as 
the commander of the armies of the chieftains and the con- 
ductor of the war. But the fact that no early bard whose 
writings have survived relates the story of Arthur's great 
exploits is no reason for discrediting entirely the tales. 
Still, so much of what is manifestly myth has attached it- 
self to the name of Arthur that it was long doubted whether 
there really was a King Arthur. Caxton mentions in his 
preface to " Morte Darthur " the fact that " divers men 
hold opinion that there be no such Arthur " ; but naively 



lO INTRODUCTION. 

concludes that, since one may see his sepulchre at Glaston- 
bury and his Round Table at Winchester and other relics 
of him and his knights elsewhere in England, " there can 
no man reasonably gainsay but that there was a king of 
this land named Arthur." With this last conclusion we 
must agree, for the investigations of this century have re- 
sulted in fixing the reality of a British chieftain of such a 
name who lived probably about the beginning of the sixth 
century and was a leader of the Celtic tribes in the west of 
England against the Saxon invaders. He is supposed to 
have met his death in a great battle with the Saxons at 
Mount Badon, near Bath, in 520 a.d. Tradition says he 
was buried at Glastonbury, and according to several writers 
of the time his remains and those of Queen Guinevere were 
discovered there in the reign of Henry H. 

With regard to the history and allegory in the " Idylls 
of the King," Hallam Tennyson gives the following as 
Tennyson's own statement (" Life and Letters of Alfred, 
Lord Tennyson," Vol. i) : 

" How much of history we have in the story of Arthur 
is doubtful. Let not my readers press too hardly on de- 
tails whether for history or for allegory. Some think that 
King Arthur may be taken to typify conscience. He is 
anyhow meant to be a man who spent himself in the cause 
of honor, duty, and self-sacrifice, who felt and aspired with 
his nobler knights, though with a stronger and clearer con- 
science than any of them, ' reverencing his conscience as 
his king.' ' There was no such perfect man since Adam,' 
as an old writer says, ' Major prceteritis majorque futnris 
re gibus.' " 



INTRODUCTION. 



CHRONOLOGY. 



1809, August 6. Alfred Tennyson is born at the Rectory, 

Somersby, Lincolnshire. 
1826. " Poems by Two Brothers " (Charles and Alfred 

Tennyson) is published at Louth. 

1828. Tennyson enters Trinity College, Cambridge. Here 

he becomes intimate with Arthur Henry Hallam. 

1829. Tennyson's poem, " Timbuctoo," takes the Chan- 

cellor's prize at Cambridge. 

1830. " Poems, Chiefly Lyrical," published. 

1 83 1. Tennyson's father dies, and the poet leaves Cam- 

bridge without taking a degree. 

1832. " Poems," published. 

1833. September 13. Hallam dies. 

1837. The Tennysons leave Somersby. The poet goes to 

live in lodgings in London. 
1842. " Poems," in two volumes; a reprint of earlier work, 

with many new poems. 
1845. A royal pension of £200 is granted Tennyson. 
1847. " The Princess." 
1850. On death of Wordsworth, Tennyson is appointed 

Poet-Laureate. Marries Emily Sellwood. " In 

Memoriam " appears. 
1853. Tennyson removes to Farringford, Isle of Wight. 
1855. " Maud, and Other Poems." 
1859. Four "Idylls of the King" ("Enid," "Vivien," 

" Elaine," and " Guinevere "). 
1864. " Enoch Arden." 
1867. Tennyson goes to live at Aldworth in Sussex, an 

estate which remains his home till his death. 
1869. " The Coming of Arthur," " The Holy Grail," " Pel- 
leas and Etarre," and " The Passing of Arthur." 
1872. " Gareth and Lynette," and " The Last Tournament." 



1 2 1N7 -R ODUCTION: 

1875. " Queen Mary," a play. 

1877. " Harold," a play, never acted. 

1884. Tennyson becomes a peer, Baron of Aldworth 

and ' Farringford. "The Falcon," "The Cup," 
" Becket," plays. 
T885. " Balin and Balan," the last " Idyll of the King." 

1885, 1886, 1889. Latest poems are published. 

1892. " The Foresters," a play acted at Daly's in New 
York. Tennyson dies, October 6. He is buried 
in Westminster Abbey, October 12. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Malory: Le Morte Darthur (Globe Edition). 
GuRTEEN : The Arthurian Epic. 
Rhys : Studies in the Arthurian Legend. 
LiTTLEDALE : Tcnnyson's Idylls of the King. 
Jones : Growth of the Idylls of the King. 
Brooke : Tennyson : His Art, and Relation to Modern Life. 
Stedman : Victorian Poets. 
Van Dyke : Poetry of Tennyson. 
Luce : Handbook to the Works of Tennyson. 
Hallam Tennyson : Alfred, Lord Tennyson : A Memoir. 
The Contemporary Review, May, 1873 (an article 
largely quoted in Rolfe's edition of the Idylls). 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

The Coming of Arthur . . . = . . . .15 

Lancelot and Elaine ,_ 34 

Guinevere 80 

The Passing of Arthur 103 



FOR HEREIN MAY BE SEEN NOBLE CHIVALRY, COURTESY, 
HUMANITY, FRIENDLINESS, HARDINESS, LOVE, FRIENDSHIP, 
COWARDICE, MURDER, HATE, VIRTUE, AND SIN. DO AFTER 
THE GOOD AND LEAVE THE EVIL, AND IT SHALL BRING TO 
YOU GOOD FAME AND RENOMMEE." 



IDYLLS OF THE KING. 



THE COMING OF ARTHUR AS TOLD IN THE 
ROMANCES. 

(Summarized from Malory's " Morte Darthur.") 

The old Celtic warrior Uther Pendragon lies dying. All 
his barons and Merlin are present, and to the surprise of 
the nobles Merlin asks him, " Sir, shall your son Arthur be 
king, after your days, of this realm with all the appurte- 
nance ? " Uther replies, " I give him God's blessing and 
mine, and bid him pray for my soul, and righteously and 
worshipfully that he claim the crown." Thus for the first 
time the nobles learn that Uther has a son. 

But Arthur is only two years old. Merlin cannot bring 
forward a babe to rule the turbulent barons. So he bides 
his time and allows the great lords to struggle with each 
other, each striving to be king, while the realm stands in 
great jeopardy. At last young Arthur is old enough to 
reign, and Merlin has the Archbishop of Canterbury send 
for all the barons to come to London at Christmastide 
when they are to be shown by a miracle who is the true 
king of the realm. And when they are assembled " there 
was seen in the churchyard against the high altar a great 
stone, four square, like unto a marble stone, and in the 
midst thereof was like an anvil of steel, a foot on high, and 
therein stack a fair sword naked by the point, and letters 
there were written in gold about the sword that said thus : 
15 



1 6 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

Whoso pulleth out this szvord of this stone and anvil is 
rightzvisc king bom of all England." None can stir the 
sword save Arthur. He easily pulls it out again and again, 
and is therefore crowned king by Saint Dubric at the feast 
of Pentecost. 

The disappointed barons and kings band together and 
refuse to take Arthur as their king. In many battles the 
young king by the aid of Merlin puts their forces to flight, 
and they are finally forced to submit. Arthur's valiant 
deeds cause Leodegrance, king of Cameliard, to call on him 
for help against his foes. These Arthur soon vanquishes. 
And then " Arthur had the first sight of Guenever, the 
king's daughter of Cameliard, and ever after he loved her." 

Doubts as to his own birth now begin to assail Arthur 
himself. He asks Sir Hector, his foster-father, about his 
parents, and Sir Hector assures him he is the son of Uther 
Pendragon and Igraine. Still in doubt, he sends Merlin 
for Igraine, who then acknowledges Arthur as her son, 
whom she had given up to Merlin ? -nr^n as he was born, 
according to Uther Pendragon's c<if.A .xid. From this 
time on no shadow of doubt can x^fridin as to Arthur's 
being the true heir of the throne. All opposition to him as 
king is now at an end. 

In accordance with the advice of his barons, Arthur 
wishes to take a wife. Merlin is therefore despatched to 
ask the hand of Guenever from Leodegrance. An alliance 
with King Arthur is an honor eagerly received, and Le- 
odegrance sends Guenever back with Merlin, sending also 
the Round Table, which Uther Pendragon had given him, 
and one hundred knights. 



THE COMING OF ARTHUR. 



Leodogran, the King of Cameliard, 
Had one fair daughter, and none other child; 
And she was fairest of all flesh on eartn, 
Guinevere, and in her his one delight. 

For many a petty king ere Arthur came 5 

Ruled in this isle, and ever waging war 
Each upon other, wasted all the land; 
And still from time to time the heathen host 
Swarm'd overseas, and harried what was left. 
And so there grew grea^ tracts of wilderness, 10 

Wherein the beas. cg^^^^ more and more, 
But man was less a^-j^lKss, till Arthur came. 
For first Aurelius lived and fought and died, 
And after him King Uther fought and died. 
But either fail'd to make the kingdom one. 15 

And after these King Arthur for a space. 
And thro' the puissance of his Table Round, 
Drew all their petty princedoms under him, 
Their king and head, and made a realm, and reign'd. 

And thus the land of Cameliard was waste, 20 

Thick with wet woods, and many a beast therein, 
And none or few to scare or chase the beast ; 
So that wild dog, and wolf and boar and bear 
Came night and day, and rooted in the fields. 
And wallow'd in the gardens of the King. 25 

2 17 



1 8 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

And ever and anon the wolf would steal 

The children and devour, but now and then, 

Her own brood lost or dead, lent her fierce teat 

To human sucklings ; and the children housed 

In her foul den, there at their meat would growl, 30 

And mock their foster-mother on four feet, 

Till, straighten'd, they grew up to wolf-like men, 

Worse than the wolves. And King Leodogran 

Groan'd for the Roman legions here again, 

And Caesar's eagle : then his brother king, 35 

Urien, assail'd him: last a heathen horde. 

Reddening the sun with smoke and earth with blood. 

And on the spike that split the mother's heart 

Spitting the child, brake on him, till, amaz'd. 

He knew not whither he should turn for aid. 40 

But — for he heard of Arthur newly crown'd, 
Tho' not without an uproar made by those 
Who cried, " He is not Uther's son " — the King 
Sent to him, saying, " Arise, and help us thou ! 
For here between the man and beast we die." 45 

And Arthur yet had done no deed of arms. 
But heard the call, and came: and Guinevere 
Stood by the castle walls to watch him pass ; 
But since he neither wore on helm or shield 
The golden symbol of his kinglihood, 50 

But rode a simple knight among his knights. 
And many of these in richer arms than he, 
She saw him not, or mark'd not, if she saw. 
One among many, tho' his face was bare. 
But Arthur, looking downward as he past, 55 

Felt the light of her eyes into his life 
Smite on the sudden, yet rode on, and pitch'd 
His tents beside the forest. Then he drave 



THE COMIiVG OF ARTHUR. 19 

The heathen; after, slew the beast, and fell'd 

The forest, letting in the sun, and made 60 

Broad pathways for the hunter and the knight. 

And so return'd. 



For while he linger'd there, 
A doubt that ever smoulder'd in the hearts 
Of those great Lords and Barons of his realm 
Flash'd forth and into war: for most of these, 65 

Colleaguing with a score of petty kings, 
Made head against him, crying, " Who is he 
That he should rule us? who hath proven him 
King Uther's son? for lo! we look at him. 
And find nor face nor bearing, limbs nor voice, 70 

Are like to those of Uther whom we knew. 
This is the son of Gorlois, not the King; 
This is the son of Anton, not the King." 

And Arthur, passing thence to battle, felt 
Travail, and throes and agonies of the life, 75 

Desiring to be join'd with Guinevere; 
And thinking as he rode, " Her father said 
That there between the man and beast they die. 
Shall I not lift her from this land of beasts 
Up to my throne, and side by side with me ? 80 

What happiness to reign a lonely king, 
Vext — O ye stars that shudder over me, 

earth that soundest hollow under me, 

Vext with waste dreams? for saving I be join'd 

To her that is the fairest under heaven, 85 

1 seem as nothing in the mighty world, 
And cannot will my will, nor work my work 
Wholly, nor make myself in mine own realm 
Victor and lord. But were I join'd with her, 

Then might we live together as one life, 90 



20 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

And reigning with one will in everything 
Have power on this dark land to lighten it, 
And power on this dead world to make it live." 

Thereafter — as he speaks who tells the tale — 
When Arthur reach'd a field-of-battle bright 95 

With pitch'd pavilions of his foe, the world 
Was all so clear about him, that he saw 
The smallest rock far on the faintest hill. 
And even in high day the morning star. 
So when the King had set his banner broad, lOO 

At once from either side, with trumpet-blast. 
And shouts, and clarions shrilling unto blood. 
The long-lanced battle let their horses run. 
And now the barons and the kings prevail'd, 
And now the King, as here and there that war 105 

Went swaying; but the Powers who walk the world 
Made lightnings and great thunders over him. 
And dazed all eyes, till Arthur by main might. 
And mightier of his hands with every blow. 
And leading all his knighthood threw the kings no 

Carados, Urien, Cradlemont of Wales, 
Claudias, and Clariance of Northumberland, 
The King Brandagoras of Latangor, 
With Anguisant of Erin, Morganore, 

And Lot of Orkney. Then, before a voice 115 

As dreadful as the shout of one who sees 
To one who sins, and deems himself alone 
And all .the world asleep, they swerved and brake 
Flying, and Arthur call'd to stay the brands 
That hack'd among the flyers, " Ho! they yield! " 120 

So like a painted battle the war stood 
Silenced, the living quiet as the dead. 
And in the heart of Arthur joy was lord. 
He laugh'd upon his warrior whom he loved 



THE COMING OF ARTHUR. 21 

And honor'd most. " Thou dost not doubt me King, 125 

So well thine arm hath wrought for me to-day." 

" Sir and my liege," he cried, " the fire of God 

Descends upon thee in the battle-field : 

I know thee for my King ! " Whereat the two, 

For each had warded either in the fight, 130 

Sware on the field of death a deathless love. 

And Arthur said, " Man's word is God in man: 

Let chance what will, I trust thee to the death." 

Then quickly from the foughten field he sent 
Ulfius, and Brastias, and Bedivere, 135 

His new-made knights, to King Leodogran, 
Saying, " If I in aught have served thee well. 
Give me thy daughter Guinevere to wife." 

Whom when he heard, Leodogran in heart 
Debating — " How should I that am a king, 140 

However much he holp me at my need, 
Give my one daughter saving to a king, 
And a king's son ? " — lifted his voice, and call'd 
A hoary man, his chamberlain, to whom 
He trusted all things, and of him required 145 

His counsel : " Knowest thou aught of Arthur's birth ? " 

Then spake the hoary chamberlain and said, 
" Sir King, there be but two old men that know : 
And each is twice as old as I ; and one 
Is Merlin, the wise man that ever served 150 

King Uther thro' his magic art ; and one 
Is Merlin's master (so they call him) Bleys, 
Who taught him magic; but the scholar ran 
Before the master, and so far, that Bleys 
Laid magic by, and sat him down, and wrote 155 

All things and whatsoever Merlin did 



22 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

In one great annal-book, where after-years 
Will learn the secret of our Arthur's birth." 

To whom the King Leodogran replied, 
" O friend, had I been holpen half as well i6o 

By this King Arthur as by thee to-day, 
Then beast and man had had their share of me: 
But summon here before us yet once more 
Ulfius, and Brastias, and Bedivere." 

Then, when they came before him, the King said, . 165 
" I have seen the cuckoo chased by lesser fowl, 
And reason in the chase : but wherefore now 
Do these your lords stir up the heat of war, 
Some calling Arthur born of Gorlois, 

Others of Anton? Tell me, ye yourselves, 170 

Hold ye this Arthur for King Uther's son? " 

And Ulfius and Brastias answer'd, " Ay." 
Then Bedivere, the first of all his knights 
Knighted by Arthur at his crowning, spake — 
For bold in heart and act and word was he, 175 

Whenever slander breathed against the King — 

" Sir, there be many rumors on this head : 
For there be those who hate him in their hearts. 
Call him baseborn, and since his ways are sweet. 
And theirs are bestial, hold him less than man : 180 

And there be those who deem him more than man, 
And dream he dropt from heaven: but my belief 
In all this matter — so ye care to learn — 
Sir, for ye know that in King Uther's time 
The prince and warrior Gorlois, he that held 185 

Tintagil castle by the Cornish sea, 
Was wedded with a winsome wife, Ygerne : 



THE COMING OF ARTHUR. 23 

And daughters had she borne him, one whereof, 

Lot's wife, the Queen of Orkney, Bellicent, 

Hath ever Hke a loyal sister cleaved 190 

To Arthur, — but a son she had not borne. 

And Uther cast upon her eyes of love: 

But she, a stainless wife to Gorlois, 

So loathed the bright dishonor of his love, 

That Gorlois and King Uther went to war: 195 

And overthrown was Gorlois and slain. 

Then Uther in his wrath and heat besieged 

Ygerne within Tintagil, where her men. 

Seeing the mighty swarm about their walls, 

Left her and fled, and Uther enter'd in, 200 

And there was none to call to but himself. 

So, compass'd by the power of the King, 

Enforced she was to wed him in her tears. 

And with a shameful swiftness : afterward. 

Not many moons. King Uther died himself, - 205 

Moaning and wailing for an heir to rule 

After him, lest the realm should go to wrack. 

And that same night, the night of the new year. 

By reason of the bitterness and grief 

That vext his mother, all before his time 210 

Was Arthur born, and all as soon as born 

Deliver'd at a secret postern-gate 

To Merlin, to be holden far apart 

Until his hour should come ; because the lords 

Of that fierce day were as the lords of this, 215 

Wild beasts, and surely would have torn the child 

Piecemeal among them, had they known ; for each 

But sought to rule for his own self and hand. 

And many hated Uther for the sake 

Of Gorlois. Wherefore Merlin took the child, 220 

And gave him to Sir Anton, an old knight 

And ancient, friend of Uther ; and his wife 



24 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

Nursed the young prince, and rear'd him with her own ; 

And no man knew. And ever since the lords 

Have foughten Hke wild beasts among themselves, 225 

So that the realm has gone to wrack : but now, 

This year, when Merlin (for his hour had come) 

Brought Arthur forth, and set him in the hall, 

Proclaiming, ' Here is Uther's heir, your king,' 

A hundred voices cried, ' Away with him ! 230 

No king of ours ! A son of Gorlois he. 

Or else the child of Anton, and no king, 

Or else baseborn.' Yet Merlin thro' his craft, 

And while the people clamor'd for a king. 

Had Arthur crown'd ; but after, the great lords 235 

Banded, and so brake out in open war." 

Then while the King debated with himself 

If Arthur were the child of shamefulness, 

Or born the son of Gorlois, after death, 

Or Uther's son, and born before his time, 240 

Or whether there were truth in anything 

Said by these three, there came to Cameliard, 

With Gawain and young Modred, her two sons, 

Lot's wife, the Queen of Orkney, Bellicent ; 

Whom as he could, not as he would, the King 245 

Made feast for, saying, as they sat at meat : 

" A doubtful throne is ice on summer seas. 
Ye come from Arthur's court. Victor his men 
Report him ! Yea, but ye — think ye this king — 
So many those that hate him, and so strong, 250 

So few his knights, however brave they be — 
Hath body enow to hold his foemen down?" 

" O King," she cried, " and I will tell thee : few, 
Few, but all brave, all of one mind with him; 



THE COMING OF ARTHUR. 2$ 

For I was near him when the savage yells 255 

Of Uther's peerage died and Arthur sat 

Crown'd on the dais, and his warriors cried, 

' Be thou the king, and we will work thy will 

Who love thee.' Then the King in low deep tones. 

And simple words of great authority, 260 

Bound him by so strait vows to his own self, 

That when they rose, knighted from kneeling, some 

Were pale as at the passing of a ghost. 

Some flush'd, and others dazed, as one who wakes 

Half-blinded at the coming of a light. 265 

" But when he spake and cheer'd his Table Round 
With large, divine and comfortable words, 
Beyond my tongue to tell thee — I beheld 
From eye to eye thro' all their Order flash 
A momentary likeness of the King : 270 

And ere it left their faces, thro' the cross 
And those around it and the Crucified, 
Down from the casement over Arthur, smote 
Flame-color, vert, and azure, in three rays. 
One falling upon each of three fair queens, 275 

Who stood in silence near his throne, the friends 
Of Arthur, gazing on him, tall, with bright 
Sweet faces, who will help him at his need. 

" And there I saw mage Merlin, whose vast wit 
And hundred winters are but as the hands 280 

Of loyal vassals toiling for their liege. 

" And near him stood the Lady of the Lake, 
Who knows a subtler magic than his own — 
Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful. 
She gave the King his huge cross-hilted sword, 285 

Wherebv to drive the heathen out: a mist 



26 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

Of incense curl'd about her, ^nd her face 

Wellnigh was hidden in the minster gloom ; 

But there was heard among the holy hymns 

A voice as of the waters, for she dwells 290 

Down in a deep ; calm, whatsoever storms 

May shake the world, and when the surface rolls, 

Hath power to walk the waters like our Lord. 

" There likewise I beheld Excalibur 
Before him at his crowning borne, the sword 295 

That rose from out the bosom of the lake, 
And Arthur row'd across and took it — rich 
With jewels, elfin Urim, on the hilt, 
Bewildering heart and eye — the blade so bright 
That men are blinded by it — on one side, 300 

Graven in the oldest tongue of all this world, 
' Take me,' but turn the blade and ye shall see, 
And written in the speech ye speak yourself, 
' Cast me away ! ' And sad was Arthur's face 
Taking it, but old Merlin counsell'd him, 305 

' Take thou and strike ! the time to cast away 
Is yet far-off.' So this great brand the king 
Took, and by this will beat his foemen down." 

Thereat Leodogran rejoiced, but thought 
To sift his doubtings to the last, and ask'd, 310 

Fixing full eyes of question on her face, 
" The swallow and the swift are near akin, 
But thou art closer to this noble prince. 
Being his own dear sister ; " and she said, 
" Daughter of Gorlois and Ygerne am I ; " 315 

"And therefore Arthur's sister?" ask'd the King. 
She answer'd, " These be secret things," and sign'd 
To those two sons to pass and let them be. 
And Gawain went, and breaking into song 



THE COMING OF ARl^HUR. 2/ 

Sprang out, and follow'd by his flying hair 320 

Ran Hke a colt, and leapt at all he saw : 
But Modred laid his ear beside the doors, 
And there half heard ; the same that afterward 
Struck for the throne, and striking found his doom. 

And then the Queen made answer, " What know I ? 325 
For dark my mother was in eyes and hair, 
And dark in hair and eyes am I ; and dark 
Was Gorlois, yea and dark was Uther too, 
Wellnigh to blackness ; but this King is fair 
Beyond the race of Britons and of men. 330 

Moreover, always in my mind I hear 
A cry from out the dawning of my life, 
A mother weeping, and I hear her say, 
' O that ye had some brother, pretty one. 
To guard thee on the rough ways of the world.' " 335 

"Ay," said the King, "and hear ye such a cry? 
But when did Arthur chance upon thee first? " 

" O King ! " she cried, " and I will tell thee true : 
He found me when yet a little maid : 

Beaten I had been for a little fault 340 

Whereof I was not guilty ; and out I ran 
And flung myself down on a bank of heath. 
And hated this fair world and all therein. 
And wept and wish'd that I were dead ; and he — 
I know not whether of himself he came, 345 

Or brought by Merlin, M^ho, they say, can walk 
Unseen at pleasure — he was at my side, 
And spake sweet words, and comforted my heart, 
And dried my tears, being a child with me. 
And many a time he came, and evermore 350 

As I grew greater grew with me ; and sad 



28 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

At times he seem'd, and sad with him was I, 

Stern too at times, and then I loved him not, 

But sweet again, and then I loved him well. 

And now of late I see him less and less, 355 

But those first days had golden hours for me, 

For then I surely thought he would be king. 

" But let me tell thee now another tale : 
For Bleys, our Merlin's master, as they say. 
Died but of late, and sent his cry to me, 360 

To hear him speak before he left his life. 
Shrunk like a fairy changeling lay the mage; 
And when I enter'd told me that himself 
And Merlin ever served about the King, 
Uther, before he died ; and on the night 365 

When Uther in Tintagil past away 
Moaning and wailing for an heir, the two 
Left the still King, and passing forth to breathe, 
Then from the castle gateway by the chasm 
Descending thro' the dismal night — a night 370 

In which the bounds of heaven and earth were lost — 
Beheld, so high upon the dreary deeps 
It seem'd in heaven, a ship, the shape thereof 
A dragon wing'd, and all from stem to stern 
Bright with a shining people on the decks, 375 

And gone as soon as seen. And then the two 
Dropt to the cove, and watch'd the great sea fall, 
Wave after wave, each mightier than the last. 
Till last, a ninth one, gathering half the deep 
And full of voices, slowdy rose and plunged 380 

Roaring, and all the wave was in a flame : 
And down the wave and in the flame was borne 
A naked babe, and rode to Merlin's feet. 
Who stoopt and caught the babe, and cried ' The King ! 
Here is an heir for Uther ! ' And the fringe 385 



THE COMING OF ARTHUR. 29 

Of that great breaker, sweeping up the strand, 

Lash'd at the wizard as he spake the word. 

And all at once all round him rose in fire. 

So that the child and he were clothed in fire. 

And presently thereafter follow'd calm, 390 

Free sky and stars : ' And this same child,' he said, 

* Is he who reigns : nor could I part in peace 

Till this were told.' And saying this the seer 

Went thro' the strait and dreadful pass of death. 

Not ever to be question'd any more 395 

Save on the further side ; but when I met 

Merlin, and ask'd him if these things were truth — 

The shining dragon and the naked child 

Descending in the glory of the seas — 

He laugh'd as is his wont, and answer'd me 400 

In riddling triplets of old time, and said : 

" ' Rain, rain, and sun ! a rainbow in the sky ! 
A young man will be wiser by and by; 
An old man's wit may wander ere he die. 

"'Rain, rain, and sun! a rainbow on the lea! 405 

And truth is this to me, and that to thee; 
And truth or clothed or naked let it be. 

" * Rain, sun, and rain ! and the free blossom blows : 
Sun, rain, and sun ! and where is he who knows ? 
From the great deep to the great deep he goes.' 410 

" So Merlin riddling anger'd me ; but thou 
Fear not to give this King thine only child, 
Guinevere : so great bards of him will sing 
Hereafter ; and dark sayings from of old 
Ranging and ringing thro' the minds of men, 415 

And echo'd by old folk beside their fires 
For comfort after their wage-work is done, 



30 IDYLLS OF THE Klh^G. 

Speak of the King ; and Merlin in our time 

Hath spoken also, not in jest, and sworn 

Tho' men may wound him that he will not die, 420 

But pass, again to come ; and then or now 

Utterly smite the heathen underfoot, 

Till these and all men hail him for their king." 

She spake and King Leodogran rejoiced, 
But musing " Shall I answer yea or nay? " 425 

Doubted and drowsed, nodded and slept, and saw. 
Dreaming, a slope of land that ever grew, 
Field after field, up to a height, the peak 
Haze-hidden, and thereon a phantom king. 
Now looming, and now lost ; and on the slope 430 

The sword rose, and hind fell, the herd was driven, 
Fire glimpsed ; and all the land from roof and rick, 
In drifts of smoke before a rolling wind, 
Stream'd to the peak, and mingled with the haze 
And made it thicker ; while the phantom king 435 

Sent out at times a voice ; and here or there 
Stood one who pointed toward the voice, the rest 
Slew on and burnt, crying, " No king of ours, 
No son of Uther, and no king of ours ; " 
Till with a wink his dream was changed, the haze 440 

Descended, and the solid earth became 
As nothing, but the king stood out in heaven, 
Crown'd. And Leodogran awoke, and sent 
Uliius, and Brastias, and Bedivere, 
Back to the court of Arthur answering yea. 445 

Then Arthur charged his warrior whom he loved 
And honor'd most. Sir Lancelot, to ride forth 
And bring the Queen ; — and watch'd him from the gates ; 
And Lancelot past away among the flowers, 
(For then was latter April) and return'd 450 



THE COMING OF ARTHUR. 3 1 

Among the flowers, in May, with Guinevere. 

To whom arrived, by Dubric the high saint, 

Chief of the church in Britain, and before 

The stateliest of her altar-shrines, the King 

That morn was married, while in stainless white, 455 

The fair beginners of a nobler time, 

And glorying in their vows and him, his knights 

Stood round him, and rejoicing in his joy. 

Far shone the fields of Alay thro' open door, 

The sacred altar blossom'd white with May, 460 

The Sun of May descended on their King, 

They gazed on all earth's beauty in their Queen, 

Roll'd incense, and there past along the hymns 

A voice as of the waters, while the two 

Sware at the shrine of Christ a deathless love : 465 

And Arthur said, " Behold, thy doom is mine. 

Let chance what will, I love thee to the death ! " 

To whom the Queen replied with drooping eyes, 

" King and my lord, I love thee to the death ! " 

And holy Dubric spread his hands and spake, 470 

" Reign ye, and live and love, and make the world 

Other, and may thy Queen be one with thee, 

And all this Order of thy Table Round 

Fulfil the boundless purpose of their King ! " 

So Dubric said ; but when they left the shrine 475 

Great Lords from Rome before the portal stood. 
In scornful stillness gazing as they past ; 
Then while they paced a city all on fire 
With sun and cloth of gold, the trumpets blew. 
And Arthur's knighthood sang before the King : — 480 

" Blow trumpet, for the world is white with May ; 
Blow trumpet, the long night hath roll'd away ! 
Blow thro' the living world — ' Let the King reign.' 



32 IDYLLS OF THE KLNG. 

" Shall Rome or heathen rule in Arthur's realm ? 
Flash brand and lance, fall battleaxe upon helm, 485 

Fall battleaxe, and flash brand ! Let the King reign. 

" Strike for the King and live ! his knights have heard 
That God hath told the King a secret word. 
Fall battleaxe, and flash brand ! Let the King reign. 

" Blow trumpet ! he will lift us from the dust. 490 

Blow trumpet ! live the strength and die the lust ! 
Clang battleaxe, and clash brand ! Let the King reign. 

" Strike for the King and die ! and if thou diest, 
The King is King, and ever wills the highest. 
Clang battleaxe, and clash brand ! Let the King reign. 495 

" Blow, for our Sun is mighty in his May ! 
Blow, for our Sun is mightier day by day ! 
Clang battleaxe, and clash brand ! Let the King reign. 

" The King will follow Christ, and we the King 
In whom God hath breathed a secret thing. 500 

Fall battleaxe, and clash brand ! Let the King reign." 

So sang the knighthood, moving to their hall. 
There at the banquet those great Lords from Rome, 
The slowly-fading mistress of the world, 
Strode in, and claim'd their tribute as of yore. 505 

But Arthur spake, " Behold, for these have sworn 
To wage my wars, and worship me their King; 
The old order changeth, yielding place to new ; 
And we that fight for our fair father Christ, 
Seeing that ye be grown too weak and old 510 



THE COMING OF ARTHUR. 33 

To drive the heathen from your Roman wall, 
No tribute will we pay : " so those great lords 
Drew back in wrath, and Arthur strove with Rome. 

And Arthur and his knighthood for a space 
Were all one will, and thro' that strength the King 515 

Drew in the petty princedoms under him, 
"Fought, and in twelve great battles overcame 
The heathen hordes, and made a realm and reign'd. 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE IN THE ROMANCES. 

The name Lancelot du Lac is distinctively French, and it 
is to the genius of Walter Map that we probably owe the 
creation of this knight, generous and brave, whose passions 
are made more human by contrast with the almost divine 
character of Arthur. He is the embodiment of the twelfth- 
century ideal of knighthood. 

According to Map, whose version Malory has followed 
closely, Lancelot is the son of Ban, King of Brittany, who, 
being attacked by enemies, is obliged to flee from his cas- 
tle with his wife and infant son Lancelot. In the flight, 
he dies, and the queen, leaving for a moment her infant 
while she cares for her dying husband, returns to find the 
child in the arms of the fairy Vivien, who on the approach 
of the queen suddenly springs with it into a deep lake and 
disappears. Hence the child is called Lancelot du Lac. 
When Lancelot is grown to manhood, Vivien takes him to 
Arthur's court that he may be made a knight. Here Lance- 
lot meets Guinevere, whose beauty fascinates him, while 
she is at once impressed with his manly strength and chiv- 
alrous courtesy. Thus begins that fatal love which was 
destined to blight their own happiness and draw into com- 
mon ruin with them the noble and confiding king. 

Malory tells us of two different Elaines. The first is 
the daughter of King Pelles. There has been a prophecy 
that she shall marry Lancelot ; but although King Pelles 
urges it strongly, Lancelot refuses the marriage, and in 
order to accomplish it magic is resorted to, and Lancelot, 
unknowing, marries Elaine. Their son is the famous Sir 
Galahad the pure, to whom alone of Arthur's knights is it 
34 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE IN THE ROMANCES. 35 

granted to see the Holy Grail unveiled. This Elaine dies 
soon, and Lancelot is released from the enchantment. This 
episode Tennyson does not mention at all in his " Idylls." 

The second Elaine is Elaine la Blanche, the lily maid of 
Astolat, as Tennyson calls her. To tell her story accord- 
ing to the romance would be merely to give a condensed 
prose form of Tennyson's exquisite poem, for the poet has 
reproduced the romance with most exact fidelity, even 
using the precise words oftentimes. In only three trifling 
points does he vary from it. Malory has Sir Tirre (Torre) 
write the letter for Elaine, Sir Lavaine having gone with 
Lancelot as squire. He has the letter placed in her right 
hand instead of in the left, and he has Guinevere, not Ar- 
thur, first discover the letter. 

The story of the diamonds offered as prizes at the jousts, 
and the scene where Queen Guinevere in jealous anger 
throws the diamonds from the window, are not to be found 
in the romance. The old dumb servitor does not appear 
in Malory. 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE. 



Elaine the fair, Elaine the lovable, 
Elaine, the lily maid of Astolat, 
High in her chamber up a tower to the east 
Guarded the sacred shield of Lancelot; 
Which first she placed where morning's earliest ray 5 

Might strike it, and awake her with the gleam ; 
Then fearing rust or soilure fashion'd for it 
A case of silk, and braided thereupon 
All the devices blazon'd on the shield 

In their own tinct, and added, of her wit, 10 

A border fantasy of branch and flower, 
And yellow-throated nestling in the nest. 
Nor rested thus content, but day by day, 
Leaving her household and good father, climb'd 
That eastern tower, and entering barr'd her door, 15 

Stript off the case, and read the naked shield, 
Now guess'd a hidden meaning in his arms. 
Now made a pretty history to herself 
Of every dint a sword had beaten in it, 
And every scratch a lance had made upon it, 20 

Conjecturing when and where: this cut is fresh; 
That ten years back ; this dealt him at Caerlyle ; 
That at Caerleon ; this at Camelot : 
And ah God's mercy, what a stroke was there ! 
And here a thrust that might have kill'd, but God 25 

Broke the strong lance, and roll'd his enemy down, 
And saved him : so she lived in fantasy. 
36 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE. 37 

How came the lily maid by that good shield 
Of Lancelot, she that knew not ev'n his name? 
He left it with her, when he rode to tilt 30 

For the great diamond in the diamond jousts. 
Which Arthur had ordain'd, and by that name 
Had named them, since a diamond was the prize. 

For Arthur, long before they crown'd him King, 
Roving the trackless realms of Lyonnesse, 35 

Had found a glen, gray bowlder and black tarn. 
A horror lived about the tarn, and clave 
Like its own mists to all the mountain-side: 
For here two brothers, one a king, had met 
And fought together ; but their names were lost ; 40 

And each had slain his brother at a blow ; 
And down they fell and made the glen abhorr'd: 
And there they lay till all their bones were bleach'd, 
And lichen'd into color with the crags : 
And he, that once was king, had on a crown 45 

Of diamonds, one in front and four aside. 
And Arthur came, and laboring up the pass. 
All in a misty moonshine, unawares 
Had trodden that crown'd skeleton, and the skull 
Brake from the nape, and from the skull the crown 50 
Roll'd into light, and turning on its rims 
Fled like a glittering rivulet to the tarn : 
And down the shingly scaur he plunged, and caught, 
And set it on his head, and in his heart 
Heard murmurs, " Lo, thou likewise shalt be King." 55 

Thereafter, when a King, he had the gems 
Pluck'd from the crown, and show'd them to his knights, 
Saying, " These jewels, whereupon I chanced 
Divinely, are the kingdom's, not the King's — 
For public use: henceforward let there be, 60 



38 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

Once every year, a joust for one of these: 

For so by nine years' proof we needs must learn 

Which is our mightiest, and ourselves shall grow 

In use of arms and manhood, till we drive 

The heathen, who, some say, shall rule the land 65 

Hereafter, which God hinder." Thus he spoke: 

And eight years past, eight jousts had been, and still 

Had Lancelot won the diamond of the year, 

With purpose to present them to the Queen, 

When all were won ; but meaning all at once 70 

To snare her royal fancy with a boon 

Worth half her realm, had never spoken word. 

Now for the central diamond and the last 
And largest, Arthur, holding then his court 
Hard on the river nigh the place which now 75 

Is this world's hugest, let proclaim a joust 
At Camelot, and when the time drew nigh 
Spake (for she had been sick) to Guinevere, 
" Are you so sick, my Queen, you cannot move 
To these fair jousts?" "Yea, lord," she said, "ye know 
it." 80 

" Then will ye miss," he answer'd, " the great deeds 
Of Lancelot, and his prowess in the lists, 
A sight ye love to look on." And the Queen 
Lifted her eyes, and they dwelt languidly 
On Lancelot, where he stood beside the King. 85 

He thinking that he read her meaning there, 
" Stay with me, I am sick ; my love is more 
Than many diamonds," yielded ; and a heart 
Love-loyal to the least wish of the Queen 
(However much he yearn'd to make complete 90 

The tale of diamonds for his destined boon) 
Urged him to speak against the truth, and say, 
" Sir King, mine ancient wound is hardly whole. 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE. 39 

And lets me from the saddle ; " and the King 

Glanced first at him, then her, and went his way. 95 

No sooner gone than suddenly she began : 

" To blame, my lord Sir Lancelot, much to blame ! 
Why go ye not to these fair jousts? the knights 
Are half of them our enemies, and the crowd 
Will murmur, ' Lo the shameless ones, who take lOO 

Their pastime now the trustful King is gone ! ' " 
Then Lancelot vext at having lied in vain: 
" Are ye so wise ? ye were not once so wise. 
My Queen, that summer, when ye loved me first. 
Then of the crowd ye took no more account 105 

Than of the myriad cricket of the mead, 
When its own voice clings to each blade of grass, 
And every voice is nothing. As to knights. 
Them surely can I silence with all ease. 
But now my loyal worship is allow'd no 

Of all men : many a bard, without offence, 
Has link'd our names together in his lay, 
Lancelot, the flower of bravery, Guinevere, 
The pearl of beauty: and our knights at feast 
Have pledged us in this union, while the King 1 15 

Would listen smiling. How then?" is there more? 
Has Arthur spoken aught? or would yourself. 
Now weary of my service and devoir. 
Henceforth be truer to your faultless lord ? " 

She broke into a little scornful laugh : 120 

" Arthur, my lord, Arthur, the faultless King, 
That passionate perfection, my good lord — 
But who can gaze upon the Sun in heaven? 
He never spake word of reproach to me, 
He never had a glimpse of mine untruth, 125 

He cares not for me: only here to-day 



/jO IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

There gleam'd a vague suspicion in his eyes : 

Some meddling rogue has tamper'd with him — else 

Rapt in this fancy of his Table Round, 

And swearing men to vows impossible, 130 

To make them like himself: but, friend, to me 

He is all fault who has no fault at all : 

For who loves me must have a touch of earth; 

The low sun makes the color: I am yours. 

Not Arthur's, as ye know, save by the bond. 135 

And therefore hear my words : go to the jousts : 

The tiny-trumpeting gnat can break our dream 

When sweetest; and the vermin voices here 

May buzz so loud — we scorn them, but they sting." 

Then answer'd Lancelot, the chief of knights: 140 

" And with what face, after my pretext made. 
Shall I appear, O Queen, at Camelot, I 
Before a King who honors his own word. 
As if it were his God's ? " 

" Yea," said the Queen, 
" A moral child without the craft to rule, 145 

Else had he not lost me : but listen to me, 
If I must find you wit: we hear it said 
That men go down before your spear at a touch. 
But knowing you are Lancelot; your great name, 
This conquers: hide it therefore; go unknown: 150 

Win ! by this kiss you will : and our true King 
Will then allow your pretext, O my knight. 
As all for glory ; for to speak him true, 
Ye know right well, how^ meek soe'er he seem, 
No keener hunter after glory breathes. 155 

He loves it in his knights more than himself: 
They prove to him his work: win and return." 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE. 41 

Then got Sir Lancelot suddenly to horse, 
Wroth at himself. Not willing to be known, 
He left the barren-beaten thoroughfare, i6o 

Chose the green path that show'd the rarer foot. 
And there among the solitary downs. 
Full often lost in fancy, lost his way ; 
Till as he traced a faintly-shadow'd track, 
That all in loops and links among the dales 165 

Ran to the Castle of Astolat, he saw 
Fired from the west, far on a hill, the towers. 
Thither he made, and blew the gateway horn. 
Then came an old, dumb, myriad-wrinkled man 
Who let him into lodging and disarm'd. 170 

i\nd Lancelot marvell'd at the wordless man ; 
And issuing found the Lord of Astolat 
With two strong sons. Sir Torre and Sir Lavaine, 
Moving to meet him in the castle court; 
And close behind them stept the lily maid 175 

Elaine, his daughter : mother of the house 
There was not: some light jest among them rose 
With laughter dying down as the great knight 
Approach'd them : then the Lord of Astolat : 
" Whence comest thou, my guest, and by what name 180 
Livest between the lips? for by thy state 
And presence I might guess the chief of those. 
After the King, who eat in Arthur's halls. 
Him have I seen : the rest, his Table Round, 
Known as they are, to me they are unknown." 185 

Then answer'd Lancelot, the chief of knights : 
" Known am I, and of Arthur's hall, and known. 
What I by mere mischance have brought, my shield. 
But since I go to joust as one unknown 
At Camelot for the diamond, ask me not, 190 

Hereafter ye shall know me — and the shield — 



42 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

I pray you lend me one, if such you have, 
Blank, or at least with some device not mine. 



Then said the Lord of Astolat, " Here is Torre's : 
Hurt in his first tilt was my son, Sir Torre ; 195 

And so, God wot, his shield is blank enough. 
His ye can have." Then added plain Sir Torre, 
** Yea, since I cannot use it, ye may have it." 
Here laugh'd the father saying, " Fie, Sir Churl, 
Is that an answer for a noble knight? 200 

Allow him ! but Lavaine, my younger here. 
He is so full of lustihood, he will ride. 
Joust for it, and win, and bring it in an hour, 
And set it in this damsel's golden hair. 
To make her thrice as wilful as before." 205 

" Nay, father, nay, good father, shame me not 
Before this noble knight," said young Lavaine, 
" For nothing. Surely I but play'd on Torre : 
He seem'd so sullen, vext he could not go: 
A jest, no more ! for, knight, the maiden dreamt 210 

That some one put this diamond in her hand, 
And that it was too slippery to be held. 
And slipt and fell into some pool or stream. 
The castle-well, belike ; and then I said 
That if I went and ij I fought and won it 215 

(But all was jest and joke among ourselves) 
Then must she keep it safelier. All was jest. 
But, father, give me leave, an if he will, 
To ride to Camelot with this noble knight : 
Win shall I not, but do my best to win: 220 

Young as I am, yet would I do my best." 

" So ye will grace me," answer'd Lancelot, 
Smiling a moment, " with your fellowship 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE. 43 

O'er these waste downs whereon I lost myself, 

Then were I glad of you as guide and friend : 225 

And you shall win this diamond, — as I hear. 

It is a fair large diamond, — if ye may, 

And yield it to this maiden, if ye will." 

" A fair large diamond," added plain Sir Torre, 

" Such be for queens, and not for simple maids." 230 

Then she, who held her eyes upon the ground, 

Elaine, and heard her name so tost about, 

Flush'd slightly at the slight disparagement 

Before the stranger knight, who, looking at her, 

Full courtly, yet not falsely, thus return'd : 235 

" If what is fair be but for what is fair. 

And only queens are to be counted so. 

Rash were my judgment then, who deem this maid 

Might wear as fair a jewel as is on earth, 

Not violating the bond of like to like." 240 

He spoke and ceased : the lily maid Elaine, 
Won by the mellow voice before she look'd. 
Lifted her eyes, and read his lineaments. 
The great and guilty love he bare the Queen, 
In battle with the love he bare his lord, 245 

Had marr'd his face, and mark'd it ere his time. 
Another sinning on such heights with one. 
The flower of all the west and all the world, 
Had been the sleeker for it ; but in him 
His mood was often like a fiend, and rose 250 

And drove him into wastes and solitudes 
For agony, who was yet a living soul. 
Marr'd as he was, he seem'd the goodliest man 
That ever among ladies ate in hall. 

And noblest, when she Hfted up her eyes. * 255 

However marr'd, of more than twice her years, 
Seam'd with an ancient swordcut on the cheek. 



44 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

And bruised and bronzed, she lifted up her eyes 
And loved him, with that love which was her doom. 



Then the great knight, the darling of the court, 260 

Loved of the loveliest, into that rude hall 
Stept with all grace, and not with half disdain 
Hid under grace, as in a smaller time, 
Bvit kindly man moving among his kind : 
Whom they with meats and vintage of their best 265 

And talk and minstrel melody entertain'd. 
And much they ask'd of court and Table Round, 
And ever well and readily answer'd he : 
But Lancelot, when they glanced at Guinevere, 
Suddenly speaking of the wordless man, 270 

Heard from the Baron that, ten years before. 
The heathen caught and reft him of his tongue. 
" He learnt and warn'd me of their fierce design 
Against my house, and him they caught and maim'd ; 
But I, my sons, and little daughter fled 275 

From bonds or death, and dwelt among the woods 
By the great river in a boatman's hut. 
Dull days were those, till our good Arthur broke 
The Pagan yet once more on Badon hill." 

" O there, great lord, doubtless," Lavaine said, rapt 280 
By all the sweet and sudden passion of youth 
Toward greatness in its elder, " you have fought. 
O tell us — for we live apart — you know 
Of Arthur's glorious wars." And Lancelot spoke 
And answer'd him at full, as having been 285 

With Arthur in the fight which all day long 
Rang by the white mouth of the violent Glem ; 
And in the four loud battles by the shore 
Of Duglas ; that on Bassa ; then the war 
That thunder'd in and out the gloomy skirts 290 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE. 45 

Of Celidon the forest ; and again 

By castle Gurnion, where the glorious King 

Had on his cuirass worn our Lady's Head, 

Carved of one emerald center'd in a sun 

Of silver rays, that lighten'd as he breathed; 2*95 

And at Caerleon had he help'd his lord. 

When the strong neighings of the wild White Horse 

Set every gilded parapet shuddering; 

And up in Agned-Cathregonion too, 

And down the waste sand-shores of Trath Treroit, 300 

Where many a heathen fell ; " and on the mount 

Of Badon I myself beheld the King 

Charge at the head of all his Table Round, 

i\nd all his legions crying Christ and him. 

And break them ; and I saw him, after, stand 305 

High on a heap of slain, from spur to plume 

Red as the rising sun with heathen blood, 

And seeing me, with a great voice he cried, 

' They are broken, they are broken ! ' for the King, 

However mild he seems at home, nor cares 310 

For triumph in our mimic wars, the jousts — 

For if his own knight cast him down, he laughs 

Saying, his knights are better men than he — 

Yet in this heathen war the fire of God 

Fills him: I never saw his like: there lives 315 

No greater leader." 

While he utter'd this. 
Low to her own heart said the lily maid, 
" Save your great self, fair lord : " and when he fell 
From talk of war to traits of pleasantry — 
Being mirthful he, but in a stately kind — 320 

She still took note that when the living smile 
Died from his lips, across him came a cloud 
Of melancholy severe, from which again, 
Whenever in her hovering to and fro 



46 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

The lily maid had striven to make him cheer, 325 

There brake a sudden-beaming tenderness 

Of manners and of nature : and she thought 

That all was nature, all, perchance, for her. 

And all night long his face before her lived, 

As when a painter, poring on a face, 330 

Divinely thro' all hindrance finds the man 

Behind it, and so paints him that his face. 

The shape and color of a mind and life, 

Lives for his children, ever at its best 

And fullest ; so the face before her lived, 335 

Dark-splendid, speaking in the silence, full 

Of noble things, and held her from her sleep. 

Till rathe she rose, half-cheated in the thought 

She needs must bid farewell to sweet Lavaine. 

First as in fear, step after step, she stole 340 

Down the long tower-stairs, hesitating: 

Anon, she heard Sir Lancelot cry in the court, 

"This shield, my friend, where is it?" and Lavaine 

Past inward, as she came from out the tower. 

There to his proud horse Lancelot turn'd, and smooth'd 345 

The glossy shoulder, humming to himself. 

Half-envious of the flattering hand, she drew 

Nearer and stood. He look'd, and more amazed 

Than if seven men had set upon him, saw 

The maiden standing in the dewy light. 350 

He had not dream'd she was so beautiful. 

Then came on him a sort of sacred fear, 

For silent, tho' he greeted her, she stood 

Rapt on his face as if it were a god's. 

Suddenly flash'd on her a wild desire, 355 

That he should wear her favor at the tilt. 

She braved a riotous heart in asking for it. 

" Fair lord, whose name I know not — noble it is, 

I well believe, the noblest — will you wear 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE. 47 

My favor at this tourney ? " " Nay," said he, 360 

" Fair lady, since I never yet have worn 

Favor of any lady in the lists. 

Such is my wont, as those who know me know." 

"Yea, so," she.answer'd; "then in wearing mine 

Needs must be lesser likelihood, noble lord, 365 

That those who know should know you." And he turn'd 

Her counsel up and down within his mind. 

And found it true, and answer'd : " True, my child. 

Well, I will wear it : fetch it out to me : 

What is it? " and she told him " A red sleeve 370 

Broider'd with pearls," and brought it : then he bound 

Her token on his helmet, with a smile. 

Saying, " I never yet have done so much 

For any maiden living," and the blood 

Sprang to her face and fill'd her with delight; 375 

But left her all the paler, when Lavaine 

Returning brought the yet-unblazon'd shield, 

His brother's ; which he gave to L-ancelot, 

Who parted with his own to fair Elaine: 

" Do me this grace, my child, to have my shield 380 

In keeping till I come." " A grace to me," 

She answer'd, " twice to-day. I am your squire ! " 

Whereat Lavaine said, laughing, " Lily maid, 

For fear our people call you lily maid 

In earnest, let me bring your color back ; 385 

Once, twice, and thrice: now get you hence to bed." 

So kiss'd her, and Sir Lancelot his own hand. 

And thus they moved away : she stay'd a minute, 

Then made a sudden step to the gate, and there — 

Her bright hair blown about the serious face 390 

Yet rosy-kindled with her brother's kiss — 

Paused by the gateway, standing near the shield 

In silence, while she watch'd their arms far-off 

Sparkle, until they dipt below the downs. 



48 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

Then to her tower she climb'd, and took the shield, 395 
There kept it, and so hved in fantasy. 

Meanwhile the new companions past away 
Far o'er the long backs of the bushless downs, 
To where Sir Lancelot knew there lived a knight 
Not far from Camelot, now for forty years 400 

A hermit, who had pray'd, labor'd and pray'd, 
And ever laboring had scoop'd himself 
In the white rock a chapel and a hall 
On massive columns, like a shorecliff cave, 
And cells and chambers: all were fair and dry; 405 

The green light from the meadows underneath 
Struck up and lived along the milky roofs ; 
And in the meadows tremulous aspen-trees 
And poplars made a noise of falling showers. 
And thither wending there that night they bode. 410 

But when the next day broke from underground, 
And shot red fire and shadows thro' the cave, 
They rose, heard mass, broke fast, and rode away: 
Then Lancelot saying, " Hear, but hold my name 
Hidden, you ride with Lancelot of the Lake," 415 

Abash'd Lavaine, whose instant reverence. 
Dearer to true young hearts than their own praise. 
But left him leave to stammer, " Is it indeed ? " 
And after muttering " The great Lancelot," 
At last he got his breath and answer'd, " One, 420 

One have I seen — that other, our liege lord, 
The dread Pendragon, Britain's King of kings. 
Of whom the people talk mysteriously, 
He will be there — then were I stricken blind 
That minute, I might say that I had seen." 425 

So spake Lavaine, and when they reach'd the lists 
By Camelot in the meadow, let his eyes 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE. 49 

Run thro' the peopled gallery which half round 

Lay like a rainbow fall'n upon the grass, 

Until they found the clear-faced King, who sat 430 

Robed in red samite, easily to be known, 

Since to his crown the golden dragon clung. 

And down his robe the dragon writhed in gold, 

And from the carven-work behind him crept 

Two dragons gilded, sloping down to make 435 

Arms for his chair, while all the rest of them 

Thro' knots and loops and folds innumerable 

Fled ever thro' the woodwork, till they found 

The new design wherein they lost themselves. 

Yet with all ease, so tender was the work: 440 

And, in the costly canopy o'er him set. 

Blazed the last diamond of the nameless king. 

Then Lancelot answer'd young Lavaine and said, 
" Me you call great : mine is the firmer seat. 
The truer lance : but there is many a youth 445 

Now crescent, who will come to all I am 
And overcome it; and in me there dwells 
No greatness, save it be some far-off touch 
Of greatness to know well I am not great : 
There is the man." And Lavaine gaped upon him 450 
As on a thing miraculous, and anon 
The trumpets blew ; and then did either side. 
They that assail'd, and they that held the lists. 
Set lance in rest, strike spur, suddenly move. 
Meet in the midst, and there so furiously 455 

Shock, that a man far-off might well perceive. 
If any man that day were left afield. 
The hard earth shake, and a low thunder of arms. 
And Lancelot bode a little, till he saw 

Which were the weaker; then he hurl'd into it 460 

Against the stronger : little need to speak 



50 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

Of Lancelot in his glory! King, duke, earl, 
Count, baron — whom he smote, he overthrew. 



But in the field were Lancelot's kith and kin, 
Ranged with the Table Round that held the lists, 465 

Strong men, and wrathful that a stranger knight 
Should do and almost overdo the deeds 
Of Lancelot ; and one said to the other, " Lo ! 
What is he? I do not mean the force alone — 
The grace and versatility of the man ! 470 

Is it not Lancelot ? " " When has Lancelot worn 
Favor of any lady in the lists? 
Not such his wont, as we that know him know." 
" How then ? who then ? " a fury seized them all, 
A fiery family passion for the name 475 

Of Lancelot, and a glory one with theirs. 
They couch'd their spears and prick'd their steeds, and thus 
Their plumes driv'n backward by the wind they made 
In moving, all together down upon him 
Bare, as a wild wave in the wide North-sea, 480 

Green-glimmering toward the summit, bears, with all 
Its stormy crests that smoke against the skies, 
Down on a bark, and overbears the bark, 
And him that helms it, so they overbore 
Sir Lancelot and his charger, and a spear 485 

Down-glancing lamed the charger, and a spear 
Prick'd sharply his own cuirass, and the head 
Pierced thro' his side, and there snapt, and remain'd. 

Then Sir Lavaine did well and worshipfully ; 
He bore a knight of old repute to the earth, 490 

And brought his horse to Lancelot where he lay. 
He up the side, sweating with agony, got. 
But thought to do while he might yet endure. 
And being lustily holpen by the rest. 



LANCELOT AND ELALNE. 5 1 

His party, — tho' it seem'd half-miracle 495 

To those he fought with, — drave his kith and kin. 

And all the Table Round that held the lists. 

Back to the barrier; then the trumpets blew 

Proclaiming his the prize, who wore the sleeve 

Of scarlet, and the pearls; and all the knights, 500 

His party, cried " Advance and take thy prize 

The diamond ; " but he answer'd, " Diamond me 

No diamonds ! for God's love, a little air ! 

Prize me no prizes, for my prize is death ! 

Hence will I, and I charge you, follow me not." 505 



He spoke, and vanish'd suddenly from the field 
With young Lavaine into the poplar grove. 
There from his charger down he slid, and sat, 
Gasping to Sir Lavaine, " Draw the lance-head : " 
"Ah my sweet lord Sir Lancelot," said Lavaine, 510 

" I dread me, if I draw it, you will die." 
But he, " I die already with it : draw — 
Draw," — and Lavaine drew, and Sir Lancelot gave 
A marvellous great shriek and ghastly groan, 
And half his blood burst forth, and down he sank 515 

For the pure pain, and wholly swoon'd away. 
Then came the hermit out and bare him in. 
There stanch'd his wound ; and there, in daily doubt 
Whether to live or die, for many a week 
Hid from the wide world's rumor by the grove 520 

Of poplars with their noise of falling showers. 
And ever-tremulous aspen-trees, he lay. 

But on that day when Lancelot fled the lists. 
His party, knights of utmost North and West, 
Lords of waste marches, kings of desolate isles, 525 

Came round their great Pendragon, saying to him, 



52 IDYLLS OF THE ICING. 

" Lo, Sire, our knight, thro' whom we won the day, 

Hath gone sore wounded, and hath left his prize 

Untaken, crying that his prize is death." 

" Heaven hinder," said the King, " that such an one, 530 

So great a knight as we have seen to-day — 

He seem'd to me another Lancelot — 

Yea, twenty times I thought him Lancelot — 

He must not pass uncared for. Wherefore, rise, 

Gawain, and ride forth and find the knight. 535 
Wounded and wearied, needs must he be near. 

1 charge you that you get at once to horse. 

And, knights and kings, there breathes not one of you 

Will deem this prize of ours is rashly given : 

His prowess was too wondrous. We will do him 540 

No customary honor: since the knight 

Came not to us, of us to claim the prize. 

Ourselves will send it after. Rise and take 

This diamond, and deliver it, and return. 

And bring us where he is, and how he fares, 545 

And cease not from your quest until ye find." 

So saying, from the carven flower above. 
To which it made a restless heart, he took. 
And gave, the diamond: then from where he sat 
At Arthur's right, with smiling face arose, 550 

With smiling face and frowning heart, a Prince 
In the mid might and flourish of his May, 
Gawain, surnamed The Courteous, fair and strong, 
And after Lancelot, Tristram, and Geraint 
And Gareth, a good knight, but therewithal 555 

Sir Modred's brother, and the child of Lot, 
Nor often loyal to his word, and now 
Wroth that the King's command to sally forth 
In quest of whom he knew not, made him leave 
The banquet, and concourse of knights and kings. 560 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE. 53 

So all in wrath he got to horse and went; 
While Arthur to the banquet, dark in mood, 
Past, thinking, " Is* it Lancelot who hath come 
Despite the wound he spake of, all for gain 
Of glory, and hath added wound to wound, 565 

And ridd'n away to die ? " So fear'd the King, 
And, after two days' tarriance there, return'd. 
Then when he saw the Queen, embracing ask'd, 
" Love, are you yet so sick ? " " Nay, lord," she said. 
" And where is Lancelot? " Then the Queen amazed, 570 
" Was he not with you ? won he not your prize ? " 
" Nay, but one like him." " Why that like was he." 
And when the King demanded how she knew. 
Said, " Lord, no sooner had ye parted from us. 
Than Lancelot told me of a common talk 575 

That men went down before his spear at a touch, 
But knowing he was Lancelot ; his great name 
Conquer'd; and therefore would he hide his name 
From all men, ev'n the King, and to this end 
Had made the pretext of a hindering wound, 580 

That he might joust unknown of all, and learn 
If his old prowess were in aught decay'd ; 
And added, ' Our true Arthur, when he learns, 
Will well allow my pretext, as for gain 
Of purer glory.' " 585 

Then replied the King: 
" Far lovelier in our Lancelot had it been. 
In lieu of idly dallying with the truth. 
To have trusted me as he hath trusted thee. 
Surely his King and most familiar friend 
Might well have kept his secret. True, indeed, 590 

Albeit I know my knights fantastical, 
So fine a fear in our large Lancelot 
Much needs have moved my laughter : now remains 
But little cause for laughter: his own kin — 



54 IDYLLS OF THE KLNG. 

Ill news, my Queen, for all who love him, this! — 595 

His kith and kin, not knowing, set upon him ; 

So that he went sore wounded from the field: 

Yet good news too: for goodly hopes are mine 

That Lancelot is no more a lonely heart. 

He wore, against his wont, upon his helm 600 

A sleeve of scarlet, broider'd with great pearls, 

Some gentle maiden's gift." 

" Yea, lord," she said, 
" Thy hopes are mine," and saying that, she choked, 
And sharply turn'd about to hide her face. 
Past to her chamber, and there flung herself 605 

Down on the great King's couch, and writhed upon it, 
And clench'd her fingers till they bit the palm, 
And shriek'd out " Traitor ! " to the unhearing wall, 
Then flash'd into wild tears, and rose again, 
And moved about her palace, proud and pale. 610 

Gawain the while thro' all the region round 
Rode with his diamond, wearied of the quest, 
Touch'd at all points, except the poplar grove, 
And came at last, tho' late, to Astolat: 
Whom glittering in enamell'd arms the maid 615 

Glanced at, and cried, " What news from Camelot, lord? 
What of the knight with the red sleeve? " " He won." 
" I knew it," she said. " But parted from the jousts 
Hurt in the side," whereat she caught her breath ; 
Thro' her own side she felt the sharp lance go ; 620 

Thereon she smote her hand ; wellnigh she swoon'd ; 
And, while he gazed wonderingly at her, came 
The Lord of Astolat out, to whom the Prince 
Reported who he was, and on what quest 
Sent, that he bore the prize and could not find 625 

The victor, but had ridd'n a random round 
To seek him, and had wearied of the search. 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE. 55 

To whom the Lord of Astolat, " Bide with us, 
And ride no more at random, noble Prince! 
Here was the knight, and here he left a shield; 630 

This will he send or come for: furthermore 
Our son is with him; we shall hear anon, 
Needs must we hear." To this the courteous Prince 
Accorded with his wonted courtesy, 

Courtesy with a touch of traitor in it, 635 

And stay'd ; and cast his eyes on fair Elaine : 
Where could be found face daintier? then her shape. 
From forehead down to foot, perfect — again 
From foot to forehead exquisitely turn'd : 
" Well — if I bide, lo ! this wild flower for me ! " 640 

And oft they met among the garden yews. 
And there he set himself to play upon her 
With sallying wit, free flashes from a height 
Above her, graces of the court, and songs. 
Sighs, and slow smiles, and golden eloquence 645 

And amorous adulation, till the maid 
Rebell'd against it, saying to him, " Prince, 
O loyal nephew of our noble King, 
Why ask you not to see the shield he left. 
Whence you might learn his name? Why slight your 
King 650 

And lose the quest he sent you on, and prove 
No surer than our falcon yesterday. 
Who lost the hern we slipt her at, and went 
To all the winds ? " " Nay, by mine head," said he, 
" I lose it, as we lose the lark in heaven, 655 

O damsel, in the light of your blue eyes; 
But an ye will it let me see the shield." 
And when the shield was brought, and Gawain saw 
Sir Lancelot's azure lions, crown'd with gold. 
Ramp in the field, he smote his thigh, and mock'd : 660 
" Right was the King ! our Lancelot ! that true man ! " 



50 IDYLLS OF TLIE KLNG. 

" And right was I," she answer'd merrily, " I, 

Who dream 'd my knight the greatest knight of all." 

" And if / dream'd," said Gawain, " that you love 

This greatest knight, your pardon ! lo, ye know it ! 665 

Speak therefore: shall I waste myself in vain?" 

Full simple was her answer, " What know I ? 

My brethren have been all my fellowship ; 

And I, when often they have talk'd of love, 

Wish'd it had been my mother, for they talk'd, 670 

Meseem'd, of what they knew not ; so myself — 

I know not if I know what true love is. 

But if I know, then, if I love not him, 

I know there is none other I can love." 

" Yea, by God's death," said he, " ye love him well, 675 

But would not, knew ye what all others know, 

And whom he loves." " So be it," cried Elaine, 

And lifted her fair face and moved away : 

But he pursued her, calling, " Stay a little ! 

One golden minute's grace ! he wore your sleeve : 680 

Would he break faith with one I may not name? 

Must our true man change like a leaf at last ? 

Nay — like enow : why then, far be it from me 

To cross our mighty Lancelot in his loves ! 

And, damsel, for I deem you know full well 685 

Where your great knight is hidden, let me leave 

My quest with you ; the diamond also : here ! 

For if you love, it will be sweet to give it ; 

And if he love, it will be sweet to have it 

From your own hand ; and whether he love or not 690 

A diamond is a diamond. Fare you well 

A thousand times ! — a thousand times farewell ! 

Yet, if he love, and his love hold, we two 

May meet at court hereafter : there, I think, 

So ye will learn the courtesies of the court, 695 

We two shall know each other." 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE. 57 

Then he gave, 
And slightly kiss'd the hand to which he gave, 
The diamond, and all wearied of the quest 
Leapt on his horse, and carolling as he went 
A true-love ballad, lightly rode away. 700 

Thence to the court he past; there told the King 
What the King knew, " Sir Lancelot is the knight." 
And added, " Sire, my liege, so much I learnt ; 
But fail'd to find him, tho' I rode all round 
The region : but I lighted on the maid 705 

Whose sleeve he wore ; she loves him ; and to her. 
Deeming our courtesy is the truest law, 
I gave the diamond : she will render it ; 
For by mine head she knows his hiding-place." 

The seldom-frowning King frown'd, and replied, 710 
" Too courteous truly ! ye shall go no more 
On quest of mine, seeing that ye forget 
Obedience is the courtesy due to kings." 

He spake and parted. Wroth, but all in awe, 
For twenty strokes of the blood, without a word, 715 

Linger'd that other, staring after him; 
Then shook his hair, strode off, and buzz'd abroad 
About the maid of Astolat, and her love. 
All ears were prick'd at once, all tongues were loosed : 
" The maid of Astolat loves Sir Lancelot, , 720 

Sir Lancelot loves the maid of Astolat." 
Some read the King's face, some the Queen's, and all 
Had marvel what the maid might be, but most 
Predoom'd her as unworthy. One old dame 
Came suddenly on the Queen with the sharp news. 725 
She, that had heard the noise of it before, 
But sorrowing Lancelot should have stoop'd so low. 



58 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

Marr'd her friend's aim with pale tranquilhty. 

So ran the tale like fire about the court, 

Fire in dry stubble a nine-days' wonder flared : 730 

Till ev'n the knights at banquet twice or thrice 

Forgot to drink to Lancelot and the Queen, 

And pledging Lancelot and the lily maid 

Smiled at each other, while the Queen, who sat 

With lips severely placid, felt the knot 735 

Climb in her throat, and with her feet unseen 

Crush'd the wild passion out against the floor 

Beneath the banquet, where the meats became 

As wormwood, and she hated all who pledged. 

But far away the maid in Astolat, 740 

Her guiltless rival, she that ever kept 
The one-day-seen Sir Lancelot in her heart, 
Crept to her father, while he mused alone, 
Sat on his knee, stroked his gray face and said, 
" Father, you call me wilful, and the fault 745 

Is yours who let me have my will, and now, 
Sweet father, will you let me lose my wits? " 
" Nay," said he, " surely." " Wherefore, let me hence," 
She answer'd, " and find out our dear Lavaine." 
" Ye will not lose your wits for dear Lavaine : 750 

Bide," answer'd he : " we needs must hear anon 
Of him, and of that other." " Ay," she said, 
" And of that other, for I needs must hence 
And find that other, whereso'er he be. 

And with mine own hand give his diamond to him, 755 
Lest I be found as faithless in the quest 
As yon proud Prince who left the quest to me. 
Sweet father, I behold him in my dreams 
Gaunt as it were the skeleton of himself, 
Death-pale, for lack of gentle maiden's aid. 760 

The gentler-born the maiden, the more bound, 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE. 59 

My father, to be sweet and serviceable 

To noble knights in sickness, as ye know, 

When these have worn their tokens : let me hence 

I pray you." Then her father nodding said, 765 

" Ay, ay, the diamond : wit ye well, my child. 

Right fain were I to learn this knight were whole. 

Being our greatest : yea, and you must give it — 

And sure I think this fruit is hung too high 

For any mouth to gape for save a queen's — 770 

Nay, I mean nothing: so then, get you gone, 

Being so very wilful you must go." 

Lightly, her suit allow'd, she slipt away. 
And while she made her ready for her ride. 
Her father's latest word humm'd in her ear, 775 

" Being so very wilful you must go," 
And changed itself and echo'd in her heart, 
" Being so very wilful you must die." 
But she was happy enough and shook it off, 
As we shake off the bee that buzzes at us ; 780 

And in her heart she answer'd it and said, 
" What matter, so I help him back to life ? " 
Then far away with good Sir Torre for guide 
Rode o'er the long backs of the bushless downs 
To Camelot, and before the city-gates 785 

Came on her brother with a happy face 
Making a roan horse caper and curvet 
For pleasure all about a field of flowers : 
Whom when she saw, " Lavaine," she cried, " Lavaine, 
How fares my lord Sir Lancelot? " He amazed, 790 

" Torre and Elaine ! why here ? Sir Lancelot ? 
How know ye my lord's name is Lancelot ? " 
But when the maid had told him all her tale, 
Then turn'd Sir Torre, and being in his moods 
Left them, and under the strange-statued gate, 795 



6o IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

Where Arthur's wars were render'd mystically, 

Past up the still rich city to his kin, 

His own far blood, which dwelt at Camelot; 

And her Lavaine across the poplar grove 

Led to the caves : there first she saw the casque 

Of Lancelot on the wall : her scarlet sleeve, 

Tho' carved and cut, and half the pearls away, 

Stream'd from it still; and in her heart she laugh'd, 

Because he had not loosed it from his helm. 

But meant once more perchance to tourney in it. 

And when they gain'd the cell wherein he slept. 

His battle-writhen arms and mighty hands 

Lay naked on the wolfskin, and a dream 

Of dragging down his enemy made them move. 

Then she that saw him lying unsleek, unshorn, 

Gaunt as it were the skeleton of himself, 

Utter'd a little tender dolorous cry. 

The sound not wonted in a place so still 

Woke the sick knight, and while he roll'd his eyes 

Yet blank from sleep, she started to him, saying, 

" Your prize the diamond sent you by the King : " 

His eyes gHsten'd: she fancied " Is it for me?" 

And when the maid had told him all the tale 

Of King and Prince, the diamond sent, the quest 

Assign'd to her not worthy of it, she knelt 

Full lowly by the corners of his bed, 

And laid the diamond in his open hand. 

Her face was near, and as we kiss the child 

That does the task assign'd, he kiss'd her face. 

At once she slipt like water to the floor. 

" Alas," he said, " your ride hath wearied you. 

Rest must you have." " No rest for me," she said ; 

" Nay, for near you, fair lord, I am at rest." 

What might she mean by that? his large black eyes, 

Yet larger thro' his leanness, dwelt upon her. 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE. 6 1 

Till all her heart's sad secret blazed itself 

In the heart's colors on her simple face; 

And Lancelot look'd and was perplext in mind, 

And being weak in body said no more; 

But did not love the color; woman's love, 835 

Save one, he not regarded, and so turn'd 

Sighing, and feign'd a sleep until he slept. 

Then rose Elaine and glided thro' the fields, 
And past beneath the weirdly-sculptured gates 
Far up the dim rich city to her kin ; ' 840 

There bode the night ; but woke with dawn, and past 
Down thro' the dim rich city to the fields. 
Thence to the cave : so day by day she past 
In either twilight ghost-like to and fro 

Gliding, and every day she tended him, 845 

And likewise many a night : and Lancelot 
Would, tho' he call'd his wound a little hurt 
Whereof he should be quickly whole, at times 
Brain- feverous in his heat and agony, seem 
Uncourteous, even he : but the meek maid 850 

Sweetly forebore him ever, being to him 
Meeker than any child to a rough nurse. 
Milder than any mother to a sick child. 
And never woman yet, since man's first fall, 
Did kindlier unto man, but her deep love 855 

Upbore her; till the hermit, skill'd in all 
The simples and the science of that time. 
Told him that her fine care had saved his life. 
And the sick man forgot her simple blush. 
Would call her friend and sister, sweet Elaine, 860 

Would listen for her coming and regret 
Her parting step, and held her tenderly. 
And loved her with all love except the love 
Of man and woman when they love their best, 



62 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

Closest and sweetest, and had died the death 865 

In any knightly fashion for her sake. 

And peradventure had he seen her first 

She might have made this and that other world 

Another world for the sick man ; but now 

The shackles of an old love straiten'd him, 870 

His honor rooted in dishonor stood, 

And faith unfaithful kept him falsely true. 

Yet the great knight in his mid-sickness made 
Full many a holy vow and pure resolve. 
These, as but born of sickness, could not live : 875 

For when the blood ran lustier in him again, 
Full often the bright image of one face. 
Making a treacherous quiet in his heart. 
Dispersed his resolution like a cloud. 

Then if the maiden, while that ghostly grace 880 

Beam'd on his fancy, spoke, he answer'd not, 
Or short and coldly, and she knew right well 
What the rough sickness meant, but what this meant 
She knew not, and the sorrow dimm'd her sight, 
And drave her ere her time across the fields 885 

Far into the rich city, where alone 
She murmur'd, " Vain, in vain : it cannot be. 
He will not love me : how then ? must I die ? " 
Then as a little helpless innocent bird, 
That has but one plain passage of few notes, 890 

Will sing the simple passage o'er and o'er 
For all an April morning, till the ear 
Wearies to hear it, so the simple maid 
Went half the night repeating. " Must I die?" 
And now to right she turn'd, and now to left, 895 

And found no ease in turning or in rest ; 
And " Him or death," she mutter'd, " death or him," 
Again and like a burthen, " Him or death." 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE. 63 

But when Sir Lancelot's deadly hurt was whole, 
To Astolat returning rode the three. 9CXD 

There morn by morn, arraying her sweet self 
In that wherein she deem'd she look'd her best, 
She came before Sir Lancelot, for she thought 
" If I be loved, these are my festal robes. 
If not, the victim's flowers before he fall." 905 

And Lancelot ever prest upon the maid 
That she should ask some goodly gift of him 
For her own self or hers ; " and do not shun 
To speak the wish most near to your true heart ; 
Such service have ye done me, that I make 910 

My will of yours, and Prince and Lord am I 
In mine own land, and what I will I can." 
Then like a ghost she lifted up her face, 
But like a ghost without the power to speak. 
And Lancelot saw that she withheld her wish, 915 

And bode among them yet a little space 
Till he should learn it ; and one morn it chanced 
He found her in among the garden yews, 
And said, " Delay no longer, speak your wish, 
Seeing I go to-day : " then out she brake : 920 

" Going ? and we shall never see you more. 
And must I die for want of one bold word." 
" Speak : that I live to hear," he said, " is yours." 
Then suddenly and passionately she spoke : 
" I have gone mad. I love you: let me die." 925 

"Ah, sister," answer'd Lancelot, "what is this?" 
And innocently extending her white arms, 
" Your love," she said, " your love — to be your wife." 
And Lancelot answer'd, " Had I chosen to wed, 
I had been wedded earlier, sweet Elaine : 930 

But now there never will be wife of mine." 
" No, no," she cried, " I care not to be wife, 
But to be with you still, to see your face, 



64 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

To serve you, and to follow you thro' the world." 

And Lancelot answer 'd, " Nay, the world, the world, 935 

All ear and eye, with such a stupid heart 

To interpret ear and eye, and such a tongue 

To blare its own interpretation — nay, 

Full ill then should I quit your brother's love. 

And your good father's kindness." And she said, 940 

" Not to be with you, not to see your face — 

Alas for me then, my good days are done." 

" Nay, noble maid," he answer'd, " ten times nay ! 

This is not love: but love's first flash in youth. 

Most common: yea, I know it of mine own self: 945 

And you yourself will smile at your own self 

Hereafter, when you yield your flower of life 

To one more fitly yours, not thrice your age : 

And then will I, for true you are and sweet. 

Beyond mine old belief in womanhood, 950 

More specially should your good knight be poor, 

Endow you with broad land and territory 

Even to the half my realm beyond the seas. 

So that would make you happy : furthermore, 

Ev'n to the death, as tho' ye were my blood, 955 

In all your quarrels will I be your knight. 

This will I do, dear damsel, for your sake, 

And more than this I cannot." 

While he spoke 
She neither blush'd nor shook, but deathly-pale 
Stood grasping what was nearest, then replied: 960 

" Of all this will I nothing ; " and so fell. 
And thus they bore her swooning to her tower. 

Then spake, to whom thro' those black walls of yew 
Their talk had pierced, her father : " Ay, a flash, 
I fear me, that will strike my blossom dead. 965 

Too courteous are ye, fair Lord Lancelot. 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE. 6$ 



I pray you, use some rough discourtesy 
To blunt or break her passion." 



Lancelot said, 
" That were against me: what I can I will ; " 
And there that day remain'd, and toward even 970 

Sent for his shield: full meekly rose the maid, 
Stript off the case, and gave the naked shield ; 
Then, when she heard his horse upon the stones. 
Unclasping flung the casement back, and look'd 
Down on his helm, from which her sleeve had gone. 975 
And Lancelot knew the little clinking sound ; 
And she by tact of love was well aware 
That Lancelot knew that she was looking at him. 
And yet he glanced not up, nor waved his hand, 
Nor bade farewell, but sadly rode away. 980 

This was the one discourtesy that he used. 

So in her tower alone the maiden sat: 
His very shield was gone; only the case. 
Her own poor work, her empty labor, left. 
But still she heard him, still his picture form'd 985 

And grew between her and the pictured wall. 
Then came her father, saying in low tones, 
" Have comfort," whom she greeted quietly. 
Then came her brethren saying, " Peace to thee, 
Sweet sister," whom she answer'd with all calm. 990 

But when they left her to herself again. 
Death, like a friend's voice from a distant field 
Approaching thro' the darkness, call'd ; the owls 
Wailing had power upon her, and she mixt 
Her fancies with the sallow-rifted glooms 995 

Of evening, and the moanings of the wind. 
5 



66 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

And in those days she made a Httle song, 
And call'd her song " The Song of Love and Death,' 
And sang it: sweetly could she make and sing. 



" Sweet is true love tho' given in vain, in vain ; looo 

And sweet is death who puts an end to pain : 
I know not which is sweeter, no, not I. 



" Love, art thou sweet ? then bitter death must be : 
Love, thou art bitter ; sweet is death to me. 

Love, if death be sw^eeter, let me die. 1005 

" Sweet love, that seems not made to fade away. 
Sweet death, that seems to make us loveless clay, 

1 know not which is sweeter, no, not L 

" I fain would follow love, if that could be; 
I needs must follow death, who calls for me ; loio 

Call and I follow, I follow ! let me die." 

High with the last line scaled her voice, and this 
All in a fiery dawning wild with wind 
That shook her tower, the brothers heard, and thought 
With shuddering, " Hark the Phantom of the house 1015 
That ever shrieks before a death," and call'd 
The father, and all three in hurry and fear 
Ran to her, and lo ! the blood-red light of dawn 
Flared on her face, she shrilling, " Let me die! " 

As when we dwell upon a word we know, 1020 

Repeating, till the word we know so well 
Becomes a wonder, and we know not why, 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE. 6/ 

So dwelt the father on her face, and thought 

" Is this Elaine ? " till back the maiden fell, 

Then gave a languid hand to each, and lay, 1025 

Speaking a still good-morrow with her eyes. 

At last she said, " Sweet brothers, yesternight 

I seem'd a curious little maid again, 

As happy as when we dwelt among the woods, 

And when ye used to take me with the flood 1030 

Up the great river in the boatman's boat. 

Only ye would not pass beyond the cape 

That had the poplar on it: there ye fixt 

Your limit, oft returning with the tide. 

And yet I cried because ye would not pass 1035 

Beyond it, and far up the shining flood 

Until we found the palace of the King. 

And yet ye would not ; but this night I dream'd 

That I was all alone upon the flood. 

And then I said, ' Now shall I have my will : ' 1040 

And there I woke, but still the wish remain'd. 

So let me hence that I may pass at last 

Beyond the poplar and far up the flood, 

Until I find the palace of the King. 

There will I enter in among them all, 1045 

And no man there will dare to mock at me ; 

But there the fine Gawain will wonder at me. 

And there the great Sir Lancelot muse at me ; 

Gawain, who bade a thousand farewells to me, 

Lancelot, who coldly went, nor bade me one : 1050 

And there the King will know me and my love. 

And there the Queen herself will pity me. 

And all the gentle court will welcome me. 

And after my long voyage I shall rest ! " 

" Peace," said her father, " O my child, ye seem 1055 
Light-headed, for what force is yours to go 



68 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

So far, being sick? and wherefore would ye look 
On this proud fellow again, who scorns us all ? " 

Then the rough Torre began to heave and move, 
And bluster into stormy sobs and say, 1060 

" I never loved him : an I meet with him, 
I care not howsoever great he be, 
Then will I strike at him and strike him down, 
Give me good fortune, I will strike him dead. 
For this discomfort he hath done the house." 1065 

To whom the gentle sister made reply, 
" Fret not yourself, dear brother, nor be wroth, 
Seeing it is no more Sir Lancelot's fault 
Not to love me, than it is mine to love 
Him of all men who seems to me the highest." 1070 

" Highest? " the father answer'd, echoing " highest " 
(He meant to break the passion in her), "nay. 
Daughter, I know not what you call the highest ; 
But this I know, for all the people know it. 
He loves the Queen, and in an open shame: 1075 

And she returns his love in open shame. 
If this be high, what is it to be low ? " 

Then spake the lily maid of Astolat : 
" Sweet father, all too faint and sick am I 
For anger: these are slanders: never yet 1080 

Was noble man but made ignoble talk. 
He makes no friend who never made a foe. 
But now it is my glory to have loved 
One peerless, without stain : so let me pass. 
My father, howsoe'er I seem to you, 1085 

Not all unhappy, having loved God's best 
And greatest, tho' my love had no return: 
Yet, seeing you desire your child to live, 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE. 69 

Thanks, but you work against your own desire; 

For if I could believe the things you say 1090 

I should but die the sooner; wherefore cease, 

Sweet father, and bid call the ghostly man 

Hither, and let me shrive me clean, and die." 

So when the ghostly man had come and gone 
She, with a face bright as for sin forgiven, 1095 

Besought Lavaine to write as she devised 
A letter, word for word; and when he ask'd, 
" Is it for Lancelot, is it for my dear lord ? 
Then will I bear it gladly; " she replied, 
" For Lancelot and the Queen and all the world, 1 100 

But I myself must bear it." Then he wrote 
The letter she devised ; which being writ 
And folded, " O sweet father, tender and true. 
Deny me not," she said — " ye never yet 
Denied my fancies — this, however strange, 1105 

My latest : lay the letter in my hand 
A little ere I die, and close the hand 
Upon it; I shall guard it even in death. 
And when the heat is gone from out my heart, 
Then take the little bed on which I died mo 

For Lancelot's love, and deck it like the Queen's 
For richness, and me also like the Queen 
In all I have of rich, and lay me on it. 
And let there be prepared a chariot-bier 
To take me to the river, and a barge 11 15 

Be ready on the river, clothed in black. 
I go in state to court, to meet the Queen. 
There surely I shall speak for mine own self. 
And none of you can speak for me so well. 
And therefore let our dumb old man alone 1120 

Go with me, he can steer and row, and he 
Will guide me to that palace, to the doors." 



70 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

She ceased : her father promised ; whereupon 
She grew so cheerful that they deem'd her death 
Was rather in the fantasy than the blood. 1125 

But ten slow mornings past, and on the eleventh 
Her father laid the letter in her hand, 
And closed the hand upon it, and she died. 
So that day there was dole in Astolat. 

But when the next sun brake from underground, 11 30 
Then, those two brethren slowly with bent brows 
Accompanying, the sad chariot-bier 
Past like a shadow thro' the field, that shone 
Full-summer, to that stream whereon the barge, 
Pall'd all its length in blackest samite, lay. 1135 

There sat the lifelong creature of the house, 
Loyal, the dumb old servitor, on deck, 
Winking his eyes, and twisted all his face. 
So those two brethren from the chariot took 
And on the black decks laid her in her bed, 1140 

Set in her hand a lily, o'er her hung 
The silken case with braided blazonings. 
And kiss'd her quiet brows, and saying to her 
" Sister, farewell forever," and again 

"Farewell, sweet sister," parted all in tears. 1145 

Then rose the dumb old servitor, and the dead, 
Oar'd by the dumb, went upward with the flood — 
In her right hand the lily, in her left 
The letter — all her bright hair streaming down — 
And all the coverHd was cloth of gold 11 50 

Drawn to her waist, and she herself in white 
x\ll but her face, and that clear-featured face 
Was lovely, for she did not seem as dead. 
But fast asleep, and lay as tho' she smiled. 

That day Sir Lancelot at the palace craved 1155 

Audience of Guinevere, to give at last 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE. /I 

The price of half a realm, his costly gift, 

Hard-won and hardly won with bruise and blow, 

With deaths of others, and almost his own, 

The nine-years-fought-for diamonds: for he saw 1160 

One of her house, and sent him to the Queen 

Bearing his wish, whereto the Queen agreed 

With such and so unmoved a majesty 

She might have seem'd her statue, but that he. 

Low-drooping till he wellnigh kiss'd her feet 1165 

For loyal awe, saw with a sidelong eye 

The shadow of some piece of pointed lace, 

In the Queen's shadow, vibrate on the walls. 

And parted, laughing in his courtly heart. 

All in an oriel on the summer side, 1170 

Vine-clad, of Arthur's palace toward the stream, 
They met, and Lancelot kneeling utter'd, " Queen, 
Lady, my liege, in whom I have my joy. 
Take, what I had not won except for you, 
These jewels, and make me happy, making them 1175 

An armlet for the roundest arm on earth, 
Or necklace for a neck to which the swan's 
Is tawnier than her cygnet's : these are words : 
Your beauty is your beauty, and I sin 
In speaking, yet O grant my worship of it 1180 

Words, as we grant grief tears. Such sin in words, 
Perchance, we both can pardon: but, my Queen, 
I hear of rumors flying thro' your court. 
Our bond, as not the bond of man and wife, 
Should have in it an absoluter trust 1185 

To make up that defect : let rumors be : 
When did not rumors fly? these, as I trust 
That you trust me in your own nobleness, 
I may not well believe that you believe," 



J 2 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

While thus he spoke, half turn'd away, the Queen 1190 
Brake from the vast oriel-embowering vine 
Leaf after leaf, and tore, and cast them off, 
Till all the place whereon she stood was green ; 
Then, when he ceased, in one cold passive hand 
Received at once and laid aside the gems 1195 

There on a table near her, and replied : 

" It may be, I am quicker of belief 
Than you believe me, Lancelot of the Lake. 
Our bond is not the bond of man and wife. 
This good is in it, whatsoe'er of ill, 1200 

It can be broken easier. I for you 
This many a year have done despite and wrong 
To one whom ever in my heart of hearts 
I did acknowledge nobler. What are these? 
Diamonds for me ! they had been thrice their worth 1205 
Being your gift, had you not lost your own. 
To loyal hearts the value of all gifts 
Must vary as the giver's. Not for me ! 
For her ! for your new fancy. Only this 
Grant me, I pray you: have your joys apart. 1210 

I doubt not that however changed, you keep 
So much of what is graceful : and myself 
Would shun to break those bounds of courtesy 
In which as Arthur's Queen I move and rule: 
So cannot speak my mind. An end to this! 1215 

A strange one ! yet I take it with Amen. 
So pray you, add my diamonds to her pearls ; 
Deck her with these ; tell her, she shines me down : 
An armlet for an arm to which the Queen's 
Is haggard, or a necklace for a neck 1220 

O as much fairer — as a faith once fair 
Was richer than these diamonds — hers not mine — 
Nay, by the mother of our Lord himself, 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE. 73 

Or hers or mine, mine now to work my will — 

She shall not have them." 1225 

Saying which she seized, 
And thro' the casement standing wide for heat, 
Flung them, and down they flash'd, and smote the stream. 
Then from the smitten surface flash'd, as it were, 
Diamonds to meet them, and they past away. 
Then while Sir Lancelot leant, in half disdain 1230 

At love, life, all things, on the window ledge. 
Close underneath his eyes, and right across 
Where these had fallen, slowly past the barge 
Whereon the lily maid of Astolat 
Lay smiling, like a star in blackest night. 1235 

But the wild Queen, who saw not, burst away 
To weep and wail in secret; and the barge. 
On to the palace-doorway sliding, paused. 
There two stood arm'd, and kept the door; to whom. 
All up the marble stair, tier over tier, 1240 

Were added mouths that gaped, and eyes that ask'd 
" What is it ? " but that oarsman's haggard face. 
As hard and still as is the face that men 
Shape to their fancy's eye from broken rocks 
On some clifif-side, appall'd them, and they said, 1245 

" He is enchanted, cannot speak — and she. 
Look how she sleeps — the Fairy Queen, so fair! 
Yea, but how pale ! what are they ? flesh and blood ? 
Or come to take the King to Fairyland? 
For some do hold our Arthur cannot die, 1250 

But that he passes into Fairyland." 

While thus they babbled of the King, the King 
Came girt with knights : then turn'd the tongueless man 
From the half-face to the full eye, and rose 



74 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

And pointed to the damsel, and the doors. 

So Arthur bade the meek Sir Percivale 

And pure Sir Galahad to uplift the maid ; 

And reverently they bore her into hall. 

Then came the fine Gawain and wonder'd at her, 

And Lancelot later came and mused at her, 

And last the Queen herself, and pitied her : 

But Arthur spied the letter in her hand, 

Stoopt, took, brake seal, and read it; this was all: 

" Most noble lord, Sir Lancelot of the Lake, 
I, sometime call'd the maid of Astolat, 
Come, for you left me taking no farewell. 
Hither, to take my last farewell of you. 
I loved you, and my love had no return, 
And therefore my true love has been my death. 
And therefore to our Lady Guinevere, 
And to all other ladies, I make moan. 
Pray for my soul, and yield me burial. 
Pray for my soul thou too, Sir Lancelot, 
As thou art a knight peerless." 

Thus he read ; 
And ever in the reading, lords and dames 
Wept, looking often from his face who read 
To hers which lay so silent, and at times. 
So touch'd were they, half-thinking that her lips, 
Who had devised the letter, moved again. 

Then freely spoke Sir Lancelot to them all : 
" My lord liege Arthur, and all ye that hear. 
Know that for this most gentle maiden's death 
Right heavy am I ; for good she was and true. 
But loved me with a love beyond all love 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE. 75 

In women, whomsoever I have known. 1285 

Yet to be loved makes not to love again ; 

Not at my years, however it hold in youth. 

I swear by truth and knighthood that I gave 

No cause, not willingly, for such a love : 

To this I call my friends in testimony, 1290 

Her brethren, and her father, who himself 

Besought me to be plain and blunt, and use, 

To break her passion, some discourtesy 

Against my nature: what I could, I did. 

I left her and I bade her no farewell ; 1295 

Tho', had I dreamt the damsel would have died, 

I might have put my wits to some rough use, 

And help'd her from herself." 

Then said the Queen 
(Sea was her wrath, yet working after storm) 
" Ye might at least have done her so much grace, 1300 
Fair lord, as would have help'd her from her death." 
He raised his head, their eyes met and hers fell, 
He adding: 

" Queen, she would not be content 
Save that I wedded her, which could not be. 
Then might she follow me thro' the world, she ask'd ; 1305 
It could not be. I told her that her love 
Was but the flash of youth, would darken down 
To rise hereafter in a stiller flame 
Toward one more worthy of her — then would I, 
More specially were he she wedded poor, 13 10 

Estate them with large land and territory 
In mine own realm beyond the narrow seas. 
To keep them in all joyance : more than this 
I could not; this she would not, and she died." 



^6 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

He pausing, Arthur answer'd, " O my knight, 1315 

It will be to thy worship, as my knight, 
And mine, as head of all our Table Round, 
To see that she be buried worshipfully." 

So toward that shrine which then in all the realm 
Was richest, Arthur leading, slowly went 1320 

The marshall'd Order of their Table Round, 
And Lancelot sad beyond his wont, to see 
The maiden buried^ not as one unknown, 
Nor meanly, but with gorgeous obsequies. 
And mass, and rolling music, like a queen. 1325 

And when the knights had laid her comely head 
Low in the dust of half-forgotten kings, 
Then Arthur spake among them, " Let her tomb 
Be costly, and her image thereupon. 

And let the shield of Lancelot at her feet 1330 

Be carven, and her lily in her hand. 
And let the story of her dolorous voyage 
For all true hearts be blazon'd on her tomb 
In letters gold and azure ! " which was wrought 
Thereafter; but when now the lords and dames 1335 

And people, from the high door streaming, brake 
Disorderly, as homeward each, the Queen, 
Who mark'd Sir Lancelot where he moved apart, 
Drew near, and sigh'd in passing, " Lancelot, 
Forgive me; mine was jealousy in love." 1340 

He answer'd with his eyes upon the ground, 
" That is love's curse ; pass on, my Queen, forgiven." 
But Arthur, who beheld his cloudy brows, 
Approach'd him, and with full afifection said, 

" Lancelot, my Lancelot, thou in whom I have 1345 

Most joy and most affiance, for I know 
What thou hast been in battle by my side, 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE. yj 

And many a time have watch'd thee at the tilt 

Strike down the lusty and long-practised knight, 

And let the younger and unskill'd go by 1350 

To win his honor and to make his name, 

And loved thy courtesies and thee, a man 

Made to be loved; but now I would to God, 

Seeing the homeless trouble in thine eyes, 

Thou couldst have loved this maiden, shaped, it seems, 1355 

By God for thee alone, and from her face. 

If one may judge the living by the dead, 

Delicately pure and marvellously fair. 

Who might have brought thee, now a lonely man 

Wifeless and heirless, noble issue, sons 1360 

Born to the glory of thy name and fame, 

My knight, the great Sir Lancelot of the Lake." 

Then answer'd Lancelot, " Fair she was, my King, 
Pure, as you ever wish your knights to be. 
To doubt her fairness were to want an eye, 1365 

To doubt her pureness were to want a heart — 
Yea, to be loved, if what is worthy love 
Could bind him, but free love will not be bound." 

" Free love, so bound, were freest," said the King. 
" Let love be free; free love is for the best: 1370 

And, after heaven, on our dull side of death, 
What should be best, if not so pure a love 
Clothed in so pure a loveliness? yet thee 
She fail'd to bind, tho' being, as I think, 
Unbound as yet, and gentle, as I know." 1375 

And Lancelot answer'd nothing, but he went, 
And at the inrunning of a little brook 
Sat bv the river in a cove, and watch'd 



78 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

The high reed wave, and hfted up his eyes 

And saw the barge that brought her moving down, 

Far-off, a blot upon the stream, and said 

Low in himself, " Ah simple heart and sweet, 

Ye loved me, damsel, surely with a love 

Far tenderer than my Queen's. Pray for thy soul? 

Ay, that will I. Farewell too — now at last — 

Farewell, fair lily. 'Jealousy in love?' 

Not rather dead love's harsh heir, jealous pride? 

Queen, if I grant the jealousy as of love, 

May not your crescent fear for name and fame. 

Speak, as it waxes, of a love that wanes ? 

Why did the King dwell on my name to me? 

Mine own name shames me, seeming a reproach, 

Lancelot, whom the Lady of the Lake 

Caught from his mother's arms — the wondrous one 

Who passes thro' the vision of the night — 

She chanted snatches of mysterious hymns 

Heard on the winding waters, eve and morn. 

She kiss'd me saying, ' Thou art fair, my child, 

As a king's son,' and often in her arms 

She bare me, pacing on the dusky mere. 

Would she had drown'd me in it, where'er it be ! 

For what am I ? what profits me my name 

Of greatest knight? I fought for it, and have it: 

Pleasure to have it, none ; to lose it, pain ; 

Now grown a part of me : but what use in it ? 

To make men worse by making my sin known? 

Or sin seem less, the sinner seeming great? 

Alas for Arthur's greatest knight, a man 

Not after Arthur's heart ! I needs must break 

These bonds that so defame me : not without 

She wills it: would I, if she will'd it? nay. 

Who knows? but if I would not, then may God, 

I pray him, send a sudden Angel down 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE. 79 

To seize me by the hair and bear me far, 

And fling me deep in that forgotten mere, 141 5 

Among the tumbled fragments of the hills." 

So groaned Sir Lancelot in remorseful pain, 
Not knowing he should die a holy man. 



GUINEVERE IN THE ROMANCE. 

It is through the scandalous tale-bearing of Sir Modred 
that the love which Lancelot bears the queen is finally 
brought to King Arthur's notice. Reluctantly he allows a 
trap to be set for the lovers by Modred ; but when with 
eleven knights Modred comes to summon Lancelot to come 
before King Arthur to answer for his treachery, he takes 
vengeance upon them, and Modred is the only one left to 
run away to the king with the tale. 

Now, in truth, the rage of the king at this confirmation 
of his suspicions is uncontrollable. His queen, he insists, 
shall be burned to death ; but Lancelot with many noble 
knights comes to rescue her, and carries her ofif to his cas- 
tle of Joyous Gard. War ensues, and the king lays siege 
to the castle. In vain Lancelot humbles himself, sends 
Guinevere back to England, and offers what reparation 
he can to the outraged king. News from England of the 
treachery of Modred, whom he had left in charge of the 
kingdom, finally compels Arthur to raise the siege and re- 
turn to England. Modred had not only usurped Arthur's 
throne, but had even insolently proposed marriage to Guine- 
vere and attempted to carry her away by force. But the 
Tower of London, where she had fled for safety, proves too 
strong for him, and he is compelled to leave her there while 
he goes to meet Arthur in that " last sad battle of the west," 
in which both meet their fate. The queen takes refuge in 
Almesbury Convent. 

It is to be noticed that in the romance Guinevere does 
not enter the convent until after Arthur's death, hence Ar- 
thur is not represented as seeing his queen after her con- 
80 



GUINEVERE IN THE ROMANCE. 8 1 

vent life begins. This episode, which forms the chief feature 
in the Idyll, was added by Tennyson. 

As soon as Lancelot hears of Arthur's great peril, he 
hurries to England to assist his lord. But it is too late. 
The ruin he himself had begun is completed, and Arthur 
is dead. Leaving his followers, he attempts to seek out the 
queen. But Guinevere's heart is now broken and penitent. 
Arthur's death had touched her as his noble life never 
could. In the presence of her nuns she bids Lancelot fare- 
well, and begs him to pray for her. And so they part. 

Lancelot now retires to a monastery, and for six years 
remains there. One night there comes a vision to him, in 
which he is bidden to haste to Almesbury to Guinevere. He 
starts at once, but before he can reach her, Guinevere is 
dead. So her constant prayer that she might never again 
see Sir Lancelot with her mortal eyes is fulfilled. Lancelot 
leads her funeral to Glastonbury, where she is buried be- 
side King Arthur. For six weeks Lancelot prays con- 
tinually at their tomb. But release comes at last to the 
penitent soul. He is found one morning lying dead in his 
cell. The romance ends with the words — " And hee lay as 
hee had smiled." 



GUINEVERE. 



Queen Guinevere had fled the court, and sat 

There in the holy house at Almesbury 

Weeping, none with her save a httle maid, 

A novice : one low light betwixt them burn'd 

Blurr'd by the creeping mist, for all abroad, 5 

Beneath a moon unseen albeit at full, 

The white mist, like a face-cloth to the face. 

Clung to the dead earth, and the land was still. 

For hither had she fled, her cause of flight 
Sir Modred ; he that like a subtle beast 10 

Lay couchant with his eyes upon the throne. 
Ready to spring, waiting a chance: for this 
He chill'd the popular praises of the King 
With silent smiles of slow disparagement; 
And tampered with the Lords of the White Horse, 15 

Heathen, the brood by Hengist left : and sought 
To make disruption in the Table Round 
Of Arthur, and to splinter it into feuds 
Serving his traitorous end ; and all his aims 
Were sharpen'd by strong hate for Lancelot. 20 

For thus it chanced one morn when all the court, 
Green-suited, but with plumes that mock'd the may, 
Had been, their wont, a-Maying and return'd. 
That Modred still in green, all ear and eye, 
Climb'd to the high top of the garden-wall 25 



GUINEVERE. 83 

To spy some secret scandal if he might, 

And saw the Queen who sat betwixt her best 

Enid, and lissome Vivien, of her court 

The wiliest and the worst; and more than this 

He saw not, for Sir Lancelot passing by 30 

Spied where he couch'd, and as the gardener's hand 

Picks from the colewort a green caterpillar, 

So from the high wall and the flowering grove 

Of grasses Lancelot pluck'd him by the heel. 

And cast him as a worm upon the way ; 35 

But when he knew the Prince tho' marr'd with dust. 

He, reverencing king's blood in a bad man, 

Made such excuses as he might, and these 

Full knightly without scorn; for in those days 

No knight of Arthur's noblest dealt in scorn ; 40 

But, if a man were halt or hunch'd, in him 

By those whom God had made full-limb'd and tall. 

Scorn was allow'd as part of his defect, 

And he was answer'd softly by the King 

And all his Table. So Sir Lancelot holp 45 

To raise the Prince, who rising twice or thrice 

Full sharply smote his knees, and smiled, and went: 

But, ever after, the small violence done 

Rankled in him and ruffled all his heart. 

As the sharp wind that ruffles all day long 50 

A little bitter pool about a stone 

On the bare coast. 

But when Sir Lancelot told 
This matter to the Queen, at first she laugh'd 
Lightly, to think of Modred's dusty fall, 
Then shudder'd, as the village wife who cries 55 

" I shudder, some one steps across my grave; " 
Then laugh'd again, but faintlier, for indeed 
She half-foresaw that he, the subtle beast, 



84 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

Would track her guilt until he found, and hers 

Would be for evermore a name of scorn. 60 

Henceforward rarely could she front in hall, 

Or elsewhere, Modred's narrow foxy face, 

Heart-hiding- smile, and gray persistent eye: 

Henceforward too, the Powers that tend the soul, 

To help it from the death it cannot die, 65 

And save it even in extremes, began 

To vex and plague her. Many a time for hours. 

Beside the placid breathings of the King, 

In the dead night, grim faces came and went 

Before her, or a vague spiritual fear — 70 

Like to some doubtful noise of creaking doors, 

Heard by the watcher in a haunted house. 

That keeps the rust of murder on the walls — 

Held her awake : or if she slept, she dream'd 

An awful dream ; for then she seem'd to stand 75 

On some vast plain before a setting sun. 

And from the sun there swiftly made at her 

A ghastly something, and its shadow flew 

Before it, till it touch'd her, and she turn'd — 

When lo ! her own, that broadening from her feet, 80 

And blackening, swallow'd all the land, and in it 

Far cities burnt, and with a cry she woke. 

And all this trouble did not pass but grew; 

Till ev'n the clear face of the guileless King, 

And trustful courtesies of household life, 85 

Became her bane; and at the last she said, 

" O Lancelot, get thee hence to thine own land. 

For if thou tarry we shall meet again, 

And if we meet again, some evil chance 

Will make the smouldering scandal break and blaze 90 

Before the people, and our lord the King." 

And Lancelot ever promised, but remain'd. 

And still they met and met. Again she said, 



GUINEVERE. 8$ 

" O Lancelot, if thou love me get thee hence." 

And then they were agreed upon a night 95 

(When the good King should not be there) to meet 

And part forever. Passion-pale they met 

And greeted : hands in hands, and eye to eye, 

Low on the border of her couch they sat 

Stammering and staring: it was their last hour, lOO 

A madness of farewells. And Modred brought 

His creatures to the basement of the tower 

For testimony; and crying with full voice 

" Traitor, come out, ye are trapt at last," aroused 

Lancelot, who rushing outward lionlike 105 

Leapt on him, and hurl'd him headlong, and he fell 

Stunn'd, and his creatures took and bare him off, 

And all was still : then she, " The end is come. 

And I am shamed forever ; " and he said : 

" Mine be the shame; mine was the sin: but rise, no 

And fly to my strong castle overseas: 

There will I hide thee till my life shall end, 

There hold thee with my life against the world." 

She answer'd : ''' Lancelot, wilt thou hold me so ? 

Nay, friend, for we have taken our farewells. 115 

Would God that thou couldst hide me from myself ! 

Mine is the shame, for I was wife, and thou 

Unwedded : yet rise now, and let us fly, 

For I will draw me into sanctuary. 

And bide my doom." So Lancelot got her horse, 120 

Set her thereon, and mounted on his own, 

And then they rode to the divided way. 

There kiss'd, and parted weeping: for he past, 

Love-loyal to the least wish of the Queen, 

Back to his land; but she to Almesbury 125 

Fled all night long by glimmering waste and weald. 

And heard the spirits of the waste and weald 

Moan as she fled, or thought she heard them moan: 



86 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

And in herself she moan'd " Too late, too late! " 

Till in the cold wind that foreruns the morn, 130 

A blot in heaven, the Raven, flying high, 

Croak'd, and she thought, " He spies a field of death ; 

For now the Heathen of the Northern Sea, 

Lured by the crimes and frailties of the court, 

Begin to slay the folk, and spoil the land." 135 

And when she came to Almesbury she spake 
There to the nuns, and said, " Mine enemies 
Pursue me, but, O peaceful Sisterhood, 
Receive, and yield me sanctuary, nor ask 
Her name to whom ye yield it, till her time 140 

To tell you : " and her beauty, grace and power. 
Wrought as a charm upon them, and they spared 
To ask it. 

So the stately Queen abode 
For many a week, unknown, among the nuns ; 
Nor with them mix'd, nor told her name, nor sought, 145 
Wrapt in her grief, for housel or for shrift. 
But communed only with the little maid, 
Who pleased her with a babbling heedlessness 
Which often lured her from herself; but now, 
This night, a rumor wildly blown about 150 

Came, that Sir Modred had usurp'd the realm. 
And leagued him with the heathen, while the King 
Was waging war on Lancelot : then she thought, 
" With what a hate the people and the King 
Must hate me," and bow'd down upon her hands 155 

Silent, until the little maid, who brook'd 
No silence, brake it, uttering " Late ! so late ! 
What hour, I wonder, now ? " and when she drew 
No answer, by and by began to hum 
An air the nuns had taught her ; ** Late, so late ! " 160 



GUINEVERE. 87 

Which when she heard, the Queen look'd up, and said, 
" O maiden, if indeed ye Hst to sing. 
Sing, and unbind my heart that I may weep." >.^^^^ 

Whereat full willingly sang the little maid : 

" Late, late, so late! and dark the night and chill! 165 
Late, late, so late ! but we can enter still. 
Too late, too late ! ye cannot enter now. 

" No light had we : for that we do repent ; 
And learning this, the bridegroom will relent. 
Too late, too late ! ye cannot enter now. 170 

" No light : so late ! and dark and chill the night ! 
O let us in, that we may find the light ! 
Too late, too late: ye cannot enter now. 

" Have we not heard the bridegroom is so sweet ? 
O let us in, tho' late, to kiss his feet ! 175 

No, no, too late! ye cannot enter now." 

So sang the novice, while full passionately, 
Her head upon her hands, remembering 
Her thought when first she came, wept the sad Queen. 
Then said the little novice prattling to her: 180 

" O pray you, noble lady, weep no more ; 
But let my words, the words of one so small. 
Who knowing nothing knows but to obey. 
And if I do not there is penance given — 
Comfort your sorrows ; for they do not flow 185 

From evil done ; right sure am I of that. 
Who see 3/our tender grace and stateliness. 
But weigh your sorrows with our lord the King's, 
And weighing find them less ; for gone is he 



88 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

To wage grim war against Sir Lancelot there, 190 

Round that strong castle where he holds the Queen ; 

And Modred whom he left in charge of all, 

The traitor — Ah sweet lady, the King's grief 

For his own self, and his own Queen, and realm, 

Must needs be thrice as great as any of ours. 195 

For me, I thank the saints, I am not great ; 

For if there ever come a grief to me 

I cry my cry in silence, and have done. 

None knows it, and my tears have brought me good: 

But even were the griefs of little ones 200 

As great as those of great ones, yet this grief 

Is added to the griefs the great must bear. 

That howsoever much they may desire 

Silence, they cannot weep behind a cloud : 

As even here they talk at Almesbury 205 

About the good King and his wicked Queen, 

And were I such a King with such a Queen, 

Well might I wish to veil her wickedness. 

But were I such a King, it could not be." 

Then to her own sad heart mutter'd the Queen, 210 

" Will the child kill me with her innocent talk ? " 
But openly she answer'd, " Must not I, 
If this false traitor have displaced his lord. 
Grieve with the common grief of all the realm ? " 

" Yea," said the maid, " this is all woman's grief, 215 
That she is woman, whose disloyal life 
Hath wrought confusion in the Table Round 
Which good King Arthur founded, years ago. 
With signs and miracles and wonders, there 
At Camelot, ere the coming of the Queen." 220 

Then thought the Queen within herself again, 
"Will the child kill me with her foolish prate?" 



GUINEVERE. »9 

But Openly she spake and said to her, 

" O little maid, shut in by nunnery walls. 

What canst thou know of Kings and Tables Round, 225 

Or what of signs and wonders, but the signs 

And simple miracles of thy nunnery ? " 

To whom the little novice garrulously, 
" Yea, but I know : the land was full of signs 
And wonders ere the coming of the Queen. 230 

So said my father, and himself was knight 
Of the great Table — at the founding of it ; 
And rode thereto from Lyonnesse, and he said 
That as he rode, an hour or maybe twain 
After the sunset, down the coast, he heard 235 

Strange music, and he paused, and turning — there. 
All down the lonely coast of Lyonnesse, 
Each with a beacon-star upon his head. 
And with a wild sea-light about his feet. 
He saw them — headland after headland flame 240 

Far on into the rich heart of the west : 
And in the light the white mermaiden swam. 
And strong man-breasted things stood from the sea, 
And sent a deep sea-voice thro' all the land. 
To which the little elves of chasm and cleft 245 

Made answer, sounding like a distant horn. 
So said my father — yea, and furthermore, 
Next morning, while he past the dim-lit woods. 
Himself beheld three spirits mad with joy 
Come dashing down on a tall wayside flower, 250 

That shook beneath them, as the thistle shakes 
When three gray linnets wrangle for the seed : 
And still at evenings on before his horse 
The flickering fairy-circle wheel'd and broke 
Flying, and link'd again, and wheel'd and broke 255 

Flying, for all the land was full of life. 



90 IDYLLS OF 7 HE KING. 

And when at last he came to Camelot, 

A wreath of airy dancers hand-in-hand 

Swung round the Hghted lantern of the hall; 

And in the hall itself was such a feast 

As never man had dream'd ; for every knight 

Had whatsoever meat he long'd for served 

By hands unseen ; and even as he said 

Down in the cellars merry bloated things 

Shoulder'd the spigot, straddling on the butts 

While the wine ran : so glad were spirits and men 

Before the coming of the sinful Queen." 

Then spake the Queen and somewhat bitterly, 
" Were they so glad ? ill prophets were they all, 
Spirits and men : could none of them foresee. 
Not even thy wise father with his signs 
And wonders, what has fall'n upon the realm ? " 

To whom the novice garrulously again, 
" Yea, one, a bard ; of whom my father said, 
Full many a noble war-song had he sung, 
Ev'n in the presence of an enemy's fleet, 
Between the steep cliff and the coming wave ; 
And many a mystic lay of life and death 
Had chanted on the smoky mountain-tops. 
When round him bent the spirits of the hills 
With all their dewy hair blown back like flame : 
So said my father — and that night the bard 
Sang Arthur's glorious wars, and sang the King 
As well-nigh more than man, and rail'd at those 
Who call'd him the false son of Gorlois: 
For there was no man knew from whence he came; 
But after tempest, when the long wave broke 
All down the thundering shores of Bude and Bos, 
There came a day as still as heaven, and then 



GUINEVERE. 9 1 

They found a naked child upon the sands 290 

Of dark Tintagil by the Cornish sea ; 

And that was Arthur ; and they foster'd him 

Till he by miracle was approven King : 

And that his grave should be a mystery 

From all men, like his birth ; and could he find 295 

A woman in her womanhood as great 

As he was in his manhood, then, he sang, 

The twain together well might change the world. 

But even in the middle of his song 

He falter'd, and his hand fell from the harp, 300 

And pale he turn'd, and reel'd, and would have fall'n, 

But that they stay'd him up; nor would he tell 

His vision ; but what doubt that he foresaw 

This evil work of Lancelot and the Queen ? " 

Then thought the Queen, " Lo ! they have set her on, 305 
Our simple-seeming Abbess and her nuns, 
To play upon me," and bow'd her head nor spake. 
Whereat the novice crying, with clasp'd hands, 
Shame on her own garrulity garrulously. 
Said the good nuns would check her gadding tongue 310 
Full often, " and, sweet lady, if I seem 
To vex an ear too sad to listen to me. 
Unmannerly, with prattling and the tales 
Which my good father told me, check me too, 
Nor let me shame my father's memory, one 315 

Of noblest manners, tho' himself would say 
Sir Lancelot had the noblest; and he died, 
Kill'd in a tilt, come next, five summers back. 
And left me ; but of others who remain. 
And of the two first-famed for courtesy — 320 

And pray you check me if I ask amiss — 
But pray you, which had noblest, while you moved 
Among them, Lancelot, or our lord the King ? " 



92 IDYLLS OF THE Kir^G. 

Then the pale Queen look'cl up and answer'd her, 
" Sir Lancelot, as became a noble knight, 325 

Was gracious to all ladies, and the same 
In open battle or the tilting-field 
Forbore his own advantage, and the King 
In open battle or the tilting-field 

Forbore his own advantage, and these two 330 

Were the most nobly-manner'd men of all ; 
For manners are not idle, but the fruit 
Of loyal nature, and of noble mind." 

" Yea," said the maid, " be manners such fair fruit ? 
Then Lancelot's needs must be a thousand-fold 335 

Less noble, being, as all rumor runs. 
The most disloyal friend in all the world." 

To which a mournful answer made the Queen: 
" O closed about by narrowing nunnery-w^alls. 
What knowest thou of the world, and all its lights 340 
And shadows, all the wealth and all the w^oe? 
If ever Lancelot, that most noble knight. 
Were for one hour less noble than himself, 
Pray for him that he scape the doom of fire. 
And weep for her who drew him to his doom." 345 

" Yea," said the little novice, " I pray for both ; 
But I should all as soon believe that his. 
Sir Lancelot's, were as noble as the King's, 
As I could think, sweet lady, yours would be 
Such as they are, were you the sinful Queen." 350 

So she, like many another babbler, hurt 
Whom she would soothe, and harm'd where she would heal ; 
For here a sudden flush of wrathful heat 
Fired all the pale face of the Queen, who cried, 
" Such as thou art be never maiden more 355 



GUINEVERE. 93 

Forever! thou their tool, set on to plague 

And play upon, and harry me, petty spy 

And traitress." When that storm of anger brake 

From Guinevere, aghast the maiden rose. 

White as her veil, and stood before the Queen 360 

As tremulously as foam upon the beach 

Stands in a wind, ready to break and fly. 

And when the Queen had added, " Get thee hence," 

Fled frighted. Then that other left alone 

Sigh'd, and began to gather heart again, 365 

Saying in herself, " The simple, fearful child 

Meant nothing, but my own too-fearful guilt, 

Simpler than any child, betrays itself. 

But help me, heaven, for surely I repent. 

For what is true repentance but in thought — 370 

Not ev'n in inmost thought to think again 

The sins that made the past so pleasant to us : 

And I have sworn never to see him more. 

To see him more." 

And ev'n in saying this. 
Her memory from old habit of the mind 375 

Went slipping back upon the golden days 
In which she saw him first, when Lancelot came, 
Reputed the best knight and goodliest man. 
Ambassador, to lead her to his lord 

Arthur, and led her forth, and far ahead 380 

Of his and her retinue moving, they. 
Rapt in sweet talk or lively, all on love 
And sport and tilts and pleasure (for the time 
Was Maytime, and as yet no sin was dream'd), 
Rode under groves that look'd a paradise 385 

Of blossom, over sheets of hyacinth 
That seem'd the heavens upbreaking thro' the earth. 
And on from hill to hill, and every aay 



94 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

Beheld at noon in some delicious dale 

The silk pavilions of King Arthur raised 390 

For brief repast or afternoon repose 

By couriers gone before ; and on again, 

Till yet once more ere set of sun they saw 

The Dragon of the great Pendragonship, 

That crown'd the state pavilion of the King, 395 

Blaze by the rushing brook or silent well. 

But when the Queen immersed in such a trance, 
And moving thro' the past unconsciously, 
Came to that point where first she saw the King 
Ride toward her from the city, sigh'd to find 400 

Her journey done, glanced at him, thought him cold, 
High, self-contain'd, and passionless, not like him, 
" Not like- my Lancelot " — while she brooded thus 
And grew half-guilty in her thoughts again. 
There rode an armed warrior to the doors. 405 

A murmuring whisper thro' the nunnery ran, 
Then on a sudden a cry, " The King ! " She sat 
Stiff-stricken, listening; but when armed feet 
Thro' the long gallery from the outer doors 
Rang coming, prone from off her seat she fell, 410 

And grovell'd with her face against the floor: 
There with her milk-white arms and shadowy hair 
She made her face a darkness from the King: 
And in the darkness heard his armed feet 
Pause by her; then came silence, then a voice, 415 

Monotonous and hollow like a Ghost's 
Denouncing judgment, but, tho' changed, the King's: 

" Liest thou here so low, the child of one 
I honor'd, happy, dead before thy shame? 
Well is it that no child is born of thee. 420 

The children born of thee are sword and fire, 



GUINEVERE. 95 

Red ruin, and the breaking up of laws, 

The craft of kindred and the Godless hosts 

Of heathen swarming o'er the Northern Sea; 

Whom I, while yet Sir Lancelot, my right arm, 425 

The mightiest of my knights, abode with me, 

Have everywhere about this land of Christ 

In twelve great battles ruining overthrown. 

And knowest thou now from whence I come — from him. 

From waging bitter war with him : and he, 430 

That did not shun to smite me in worse way. 

Had yet that grace of courtesy in him left. 

He spared to lift his hand against the King 

Who made him knight : but many a knight was slain ; 

And many more, and all his kith and kin 435 

Clave to him, and abode in his own land. 

And many more when Modred raised revolt, 

Forgetful of their troth and fealty, clave 

To Modred, and a remnant stays with me. 

And of this remnant will I leave a part, 440 

True men who love me still, for whom I live, 

To guard thee in the wild hour coming on. 

Lest but a hair of this low head be harm'd. 

Fear not: thou shalt be guarded till my death. 

Howbeit I know, if ancient prophecies 445 

Have err'd not, that I march to meet my doom. 

Thou hast not made my life so sweet to me. 

That I the King should greatly care to live; 

For thou hast spoilt the purpose of my life. 

Bear with me for the last time while I show, 450 

Ev'n for thy sake, the sin which thou hast sinn'd. 

For when the Roman left us, and their law 

Relax'd its hold upon us, and the ways 

Were fill'd with rapine, here and there a deed 

Of prowess done redress'd a random wrong. 455 

But I was first of all the kings who drew 



96 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

Tlie knighthood-errant of this reahn and all 

The realms together under me, their Head, 

In that fair Order of my Table Round, 

A glorious company, the flower of men, 460 

To serve as model for the mighty world. 

And be the fair beginning of a time. 

I made them lay their hands in mine and swear 

To reverence the King, as if he were 

Their conscience, and their conscience as their King, 465 

To break the heathen and uphold the Christ, 

To ride abroad redressing human wrongs. 

To speak no slander, no, nor listen to it. 

To honor his own word as if his God's, 

To lead sweet lives in purest chastity, 470 

To love one maiden only, cleave to her. 

And worship her by years of noble deeds, 

Until they won her ; for indeed I knew 

Of no more subtle master under heaven 

Than is the maiden passion for a maid, 475 

Not only to keep down the base in man. 

But teach high thought, and amiable words 

And courtliness, and the desire of fame, 

And love of truth, and all that makes a man. 

And all this throve before I wedded thee, 480 

Believing, ' Lo mine helpmate, one to feel 

My purpose and rejoicing in my joy.' 

Then came thy shameful sin with Lancelot ; 

Then came the sin of Tristram and Isolt ; 

Then others, following these my mightiest knights, 485 

And drawing foul ensample from fair names, 

Sinn'd also, till the loathsome opposite 

Of all my heart had destined did obtain, 

And all thro' thee ! so that this life of mine 

I guard as God's high gift from scathe and wrong, 490 

Not greatly care to lose; but rather think 



GUINEVERE. 97 

How sad it were for Arthur, should he live, 

To sit once more within his lonely hall. 

And miss the wonted number of my knights, 

And miss to hear high talk of noble deeds 495 

As in the golden days before thy sin. 

For which of us, who might be left, could speak 

Of the pure heart, nor seem to glance at thee? 

And in thy bowers of Camelot or of Usk 

Thy shadow still would glide from room to room, 500 

And I should evermore be vext with thee 

In hanging robe or vacant ornament. 

Or ghostly footfall echoing on the stair. 

For think not, tho' thou wouldst not love thy lord. 

Thy lord has wholly lost his love for thee. 505 

I am not made of so sHght elements. 

Yet must I leave thee, woman, to thy shame. 

I hold that man the worst of public foes 

Who either for his own or children's sake, 

To save his blood from scandal, lets the wife 510 

Whom he knows false, abide and rule the house: 

For being thro' his cowardice allow'd 

Her station, taken everywhere for pure. 

She like a new disease, unknown to men, 

Creeps, no precaution used, among the crowd, 515 

Makes wicked lightnings of her eyes, and saps 

The fealty of our friends, and stirs the pulse 

With devil's leaps, and poisons half the young. 

Worst of the worst were that man he that reigns ! 

Better the King's waste hearth and aching heart 520 

Than thou reseated in thy place of light. 

The mockery of my people, and their bane." 

He paused, and in the pause she crept an inch 
Nearer, and laid her hands about his feet. 
Far off a solitary trumpet blew. 5^5 

*1 



98 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

Then waiting by the doors the warhorse neigh'd 
As at a friend's voice, and he spake again : 

" Yet think not that I come to urge thy crimes; 
I did not come to curse thee, Guinevere, 
I, whose vast pity almost makes me die 530 

To see thee, laying there thy golden head. 
My pride in happier summers, at my feet. 
The wrath which forced my thoughts on that fierce law. 
The doom of treason and the flaming death, 
(When first I learnt thee hidden here) is past. 535 

The pang — which while I weigh'd thy heart with one 
Too wholly true to dream untruth in thee, 
Made my tears burn — is also past, in part. 
And all is past, the sin is sinn'd, and I, 
Lo! I forgive. thee, as Eternal God 540 

Forgives : do thou for thine own soul the rest. 
But how to take last leave of all I loved? 

golden hair, with which I used to play 
Not knowing. O imperial-moulded form. 

And beauty such as never woman wore, 545 

Until it came a kingdom's curse with thee — 

1 cannot touch thy lips, they are not mine, 

But Lancelot's : nay, they never were the King's. 

I cannot take thy hand ; that too is flesh, 

And in the flesh thou hast sinn'd ; and mine own flesh, 550 

Here looking down on thine polluted, cries 

' I loathe thee : ' yet not less, O Guinevere, 

For I was ever virgin save for thee, 

My love thro' flesh hath wrought into my life 

So far, that my doom is, I love thee still. 555 

Let no man dream but that I love thee still. 

Perchance, and so thou purify thy soul, 

And so thou lean on our fair father Christ, 

Hereafter in that world where all are pure 



GUINEVERE. 99 

We two may meet before high God, and thou 560 

Wilt spring to me, and claim me thine, and know 

I am thine husband — not a smaller soul. 

Nor Lancelot, nor another. Leave me that, 

I charge thee, my last hope. Now must I hence. 

Thro' the thick night I hear the trumpet blow: 565 

They summon me their King to lead mine hosts 

Far down to that great battle in the west. 

Where I must strike against the man they call 

My sister's son — no kin of mine, who leagues 

With Lords of the White Horse, heathen, and knights, 570 

Traitors — and strike him dead, and meet myself 

Death, or I know not what mysterious doom. 

And thou remaining here wilt learn the event; 

But hither shall I never come again. 

Never lie by thy side; see thee no more — 575 

Farewell ! " 

And while she grovell'd at his feet, 
She felt the King's breath wander o'er her neck. 
And in the darkness o'er her fallen head. 
Perceived the waving of his hands that blest. 

Then, listening till those armed steps were gone, 580 
Rose the pale Queen, and in her anguish found 
The casement : " peradventure," so she thought, 
" If I might see his face, and not be seen." 
And lo, he sat on horseback at the door ! 
And near him the sad nuns with each a light 585 

Stood, and he gave them charge about the Queen, 
To guard and foster her for evermore. 
And while he spake to these his helm was lower'd. 
To which for crest the golden dragon clung 
Of Britain ; so she did not see the face, 590 

Which then was an angel's, but she saw, 
Wet with the mists and srnitten by the lights, 



lOO IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

The Dragon of the great Pendragonship 

Blaze, making all the night a steam of fire. 

And even then he turn'd ; and moi'e and more 595 

The moony vapor rolling round the King, 

Who seem'd the phantom of a Giant in it, 

Enwound him fold by fold, and made him gray 

And grayer, till himself became as mist 

Before her, moving ghostlike to his doom. 600 

Then she stretch'd out her arms and cried aloud 
" O Arthur ! " there her voice brake suddenly, 
Then — as a stream that spouting from a cliff 
Fails in mid-air, but gathering at the base 
Re-makes itself, and flashes down the vale — 605 

Went on in passionate utterance: 

" Gone — my lord ! 
Gone thro' my sin to slay and to be slain ! 
And he forgave me, and I could not speak. 
Farewell? I should have answer'd his farewell. 
His mercy choked me. Gone, my lord the King, 610 

My own true lord ! how dare I call him mine ? 
The shadow of another cleaves to me. 
And makes me one pollution: he, the King, 
Call'd me polluted: shall I kill myself? 
What help in that? I cannot kill my sin, 615 

If soul be soul; nor can I kill my shame; 
No, nor by living can I live it down. 
The days will grow to weeks, the weeks to months, 
The months will add themselves and make the years. 
The years will roll into the centuries, 620 

And mine will ever be a name of scorn. 
I must not dwell on that defeat of fame. 
Let the world be ; that is but of the world — 
What else? what hope? I think there was a hope. 
Except he mock'd me when he spake of hope; 625 



GUINEVERE. lOI 

His hope he call'd it ; but he never mocks, 

For mockery is the fume of Httle hearts. 

And blessed be the King, who hath forgiven 

My wickedness to him, and let me hope 

That in mine own heart I can live down sin 630 

And be his mate hereafter in the heavens 

Before high God. Ah great and gentle lord, 

Who wast, as is the conscience of a saint 

Among his warring senses, to thy knights — 

To whom my false voluptuous pride, that took 635 

Full easily all impressions from below, 

Would not look up, or half-despised the height 

To which I would not or I could not climb — 

I thought I could not breathe in that fine air. 

That pure severity of perfect light — 640 

I yearned for warmth and color which I found 

In Lancelot — now I see thee what thou art, 

Thou art the highest and most human too. 

Not Lancelot, nor another. Is there none 

Will tell the King I love him tho' so late? 645 

Now — ere he goes to the great Battle ? none : 

Myself must tell him in that purer life. 

But now it were too daring. Ah my God, 

What might I not have made of thy fair world. 

Had I but loved thy highest creature here? 650 

It was my duty to have loved the highest : 

It surely was my profit had I known: 

It would have been my pleasure had I seen. 

We needs must love the highest when we sec it. 

Not Lancelot, nor another." 655 

Here her hand 
Grasp'd, made her vail her eyes : she look'd and saw 
The novice, weeping, suppliant, and said to her, 
" Yea, little maid, for am / not forgiven ? " 



I02 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

Then glancing up beheld the holy nuns 

All round her, weeping; and her heart was loosed 660 

Within her, and she wept with these and said, 

" Ye know me then, that wicked one who broke 
The vast design and purpose of the King. 

shut me round with narrowing nunnery-walls. 

Meek maidens, from the voices crying ' shame.' 665 

1 must not scorn myself : he loves me still. 
Let no one dream but that he loves me still. 
So let me, if you do not shudder at me, 
Nor shun to call me sister, dwell with you ; 

Wear black and white, and be a nun like you, 670 

Fast with your fasts, not feasting with your feasts ; 

Grieve with your griefs, not grieving at your joys, 

But not rejoicing; mingle with your rites; 

Pray and be pray'd for ; lie before your shrines ; 

Do each low office of your holy house ; 675 

Walk your dim cloister, and distribute dole 

To poor sick people, richer in His eyes 

Who ransom'd us, and haler too than I ; 

And treat their loathsome hurts and heal mine own ; 

And so wear out in almsdeed and in prayer 680 

The sombre close of that voluptuous day. 

Which wrought the ruin of my lord the King." 

She said : they took her to themselves : and she, 
Still hoping, fearing, " is it yet too late?" 
Dwelt with them, till in time their Abbess died. 685 

Then she, for her good deeds and her pure life. 
And for the power of ministration in her, 
And likewise for the high rank she had borne, 
Was chosen Abbess, there, an Abbess, lived 
For three brief years, and there, an Abbess, past 690 

To where beyond these voices there is peace. 



THE PASSING OF ARTHUR IN THE ROMANCE. 

When Arthur goes to besiege Lancelot in his castle of 
Joyous Gard, he leaves his nephew Modred in charge of the 
kingdom in his absence. Modred forges letters telling of 
the death of Arthur in battle, and has himself crowned 
king in his place. His attempt to force Guinevere to marry 
him is frustrated by her flight to the Tower of London, 
which she fortifies against him. Upon news of this, Ar- 
thur returns to England and is met at Dover by Modred 
with a large army of Arthur's knights and barons, whom 
he has attached to himself by lavish promises. A battle is 
fought in which the rebels are driven back. Arthur drives 
Modred from city to city, until he finally forces him to meet 
him in open battle at Camlan in Lyonnesse. From this 
point the incidents of the poem are almost identical with 
those of the romance, Tennyson having adopted Malory's 
very words at times. 

It is interesting to compare the character of the Arthur 
of the romance with that of the Arthur of the " Idylls." 
The romance makes him principally the king and warrior. 
It is the royal and warlike traits which are especially em- 
phasized. He is haughty, imperious, kingly in every word 
and deed. His life as king begins with a proud defiance to 
Rome, and his last words are an imperious command to Sir 
Bedivere. But on the other hand, he is the ideal knight of 
that chivalrous age, so that his kingliness never verges into 
tyranny. He is a chivalrous king, stanch in his fidelity to 
lady and friend, generous to friend and foe, unyielding in 
his hatred of sin and wrong. Yet he has the faults of the 
age of chivalry as well as its virtues. He is, in short, the 
true representative of his time, a human being with the 
honest failings and noble aspirations of other sinning 
mortals. 

103 



THE PASSING OF ARTHUR. 



That story which the bold Sir Bedivere, 

First made and latest left of all the knights, 

Told, when the man was no more than a voice 

In the white winter of his age, to those 

With whom he dwelt, new faces, other minds. 5 

For on their march to westward, Bedivere, 
Who slowly paced among the slumbering host, 
Heard in his tent the moanings of the King : 

" I found Him in the shining of the stars, 
I mark'd Him in the flowering of His fields, lO 

But in His ways with men I find Him not. 
I waged His wars, and now I pass and die. 
O me ! for why is all around us here 
As if some lesser god had made the world, 
But had not force to shape it as he would, 15 

Till the High God behold it from beyond. 
And enter it, and make it beautiful? 
Or else as if the world were wholly fair, 
But that these eyes of men are dense and dim. 
And have not power to see it as it is : 20 

Perchance, because we see not to the close ; — 
For I, being simple, thought to work His will. 
And have but stricken with the sword in vain ; 
And all whereon I lean'd in wife and friend 
Is traitor to my peace, and all my realm 25 

104 



THE PASSING OF ARTHUR. IO5 

Reels back into the beast, and is no more. 
My God, thou hast forgotten me in my death : 
Nay — God my Christ — I pass but shall not die." 

Then, ere that last weird battle in the west, 
There came on Arthur sleeping, Gawain kill'd 30 

In Lancelot's war, the ghost of Gawain blown 
Along a wandering wind, and past his ear 
Went shrilling, " Hollow, hollow all delight ! 
Hail, King! to-morrow thou shalt pass away. 
Farewell ! there is an isle of rest for thee. 35 

And I am blown along a wandering wind, 
And hollow, hollow, hollow all delight." 
And fainter onward, like wild birds that change 
Their season in the night and wail their way 
From cloud to cloud, down the long wind the dream 40 

Shrill'd ; but in going mingled with dim cries 
Far in the moonlit haze among the hills. 
As of some lonely city sack'd by night. 
When all is lost, and wife and child with wail 
Pass to new lords ; and Arthur woke and call'd, 45 

" Who spake ? A dream. O light upon the wind, 
Thine, Gawain, was the voice — are these dim cries 
Thine ? or doth all that haunts the waste and wild 
Mourn, knowing it will go along with me ? " 

This heard the bold Sir Bedivere and spake: 50 

" O me, my King, let pass whatever will, 
Elves, and the harmless glamour of the field; 
But in their stead thy name and glory cling 
To all high places like a golden cloud 
Forever: but as yet thou shalt not pass. 55 

Light was Gawain in life, and light in death 
Is Gawain, for the ghost is as the man ; 
And care not thou for dreams from him, but rise — 



I06 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

I hear the steps of Modred in the west, 

And with him many of thy people, and knights 60 

Once thine, whom thou hast loved, but grosser grown 

Than heathen, spitting at their vows and thee. 

Right well in heart they know thee for the King. 

Arise, go forth and conquer as of old." 

Then spake King Arthur to Sir Bedivere: 65 

" Far other is this battle in the west 
Whereto we move, than where we strove in youth, 
And brake the petty kings, and fought with Rome, 
Or thrust the heathen from the Roman wall. 
And shook him thro' the north. Ill doom is mine 70 

To war against my people and my knights. 
The king who fights his people fights himself. 
And they my knights, who loved me once, the stroke 
That strikes them dead is as my death to me. 
Yet let us hence, and find or feel a way 75 

Thro' this blind haze, which ever since I saw 
One lying in the dust at Almesbury, 
Hath folded in the passes of the world." 

Then rose the King and moved his host by night, 
And ever push'd Sir Modred, league by league, 80 

Back to the sunset bound of Lyonnesse — 
A land of old upheaven from the abyss 
By fire, to sink into the abyss again ; 
Where fragments of forgotten peoples dwelt, 
And the long mountains ended in a coast 85 

Of ever-shifting sand, and far away 
The phantom circle of a moaning sea. 
There the pursuer could pursue no more, 
And he that fled no further fly the King; 
And there, that day when the great light of heaven 90 

Burn'd at his lowest in the rolling year, 



THE PASSING OF ARTHUR. \0'] 

On the waste sand by the waste sea they closed. 

Nor ever yet had Arthur fought a fight 

Like this last, dim, weird battle of the west. 

A death-white mist slept over sand and sea : 95 

Whereof the chill, to him who breathed it, drew 

Down with his blood, till all his heart was cold 

With formless fear; and ev'n on Arthur fell 

Confusion, since he saw not whom he fought, 

For friend and foe were shadows in the mist, 100 

And friend slew friend not knowing whom he slew ; 

And some had visions out of golden youth. 

And some beheld the faces of old ghosts 

Look in upon the battle ; and in the mist 

Was many a noble deed, many a base, 105 

And chance and craft and strength in single fights. 

And ever and anon with host to host 

Shocks, and the splintering spear, the hard mail hewn, 

Shield-breakings, and the clash of brands, the crash 

Of battle-axes on shatter'd helms, and shrieks no 

After the Christ, of those who falling down 

Look'd up for heaven, and only saw the mist ; 

And shouts of heathen and the traitor knights. 

Oaths, insult, filth, and monstrous blasphemies. 

Sweat, writhings, anguish, laboring of the lungs 115 

In that close mist, and cryings for the light, 

Moans of the dying, and voices of the dead. 

Last, as by some one deathbed after wail 
Of suffering, silence follows, or thro' death 
Or deathlike swoon, thus over all that shore, 120 

Save for some whisper of the seething seas, 
A dead hush fell ; but when the dolorous day 
Grew drearier toward twilight falling, came 
A bitter wind, clear from the North, and blew 
The mist aside, and with that wind the tide 125 



I08 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

Rose, and the pale King glanced across the field 

Of battle: but no man was moving there; 

Nor any cry of Christian heard thereon, 

Nor yet of heathen ; only the wan wave 

Brake in among dead faces, to and fro 130 

Swaying the helpless hands, and up and down 

Tumbling the hollow helmets of the fallen. 

And shiver'd brands that once had fought with Rome, 

And rolling far along the gloomy shores 

The voice of days of old and days to be. 135 

Then spake King Arthur to Sir Bedivere, 
And whiter than the mist that all day long 
Had held the field of battle was the King: 

" Hearest thou this voice that shakes the world 
And wastes the narrow realm whereon we move, 140 

And beats upon the faces of the dead, 
My dead, as tho' they had not died for me? — 
P Bedivere, for on my heart hath fall'n 
(Sbnfusion, till I know not what I am, 
Nor whence I am, nor whether I be King. 145 

Behold, I seem but King among the dead." 

Then spake the bold Sir Bedivere : " My King, 
King everyw^here ! and so the dead have kings, 
There also will I worship thee as King. 
Yet still thy life is whole, and still I live 150 

Who love thee ; but who hates thee, he that brought 
The heathen back among us, yonder stands, 
Modred, unharm'd, the traitor of thine house." 

Then spake the King: " My house hath been my doom, 
But call not thou this traitor of my house 155 

Who hath but dwelt beneath one roof with me. 



THE PASSING OF ARTHUR. IO9 

My house are rather those who sware my vows, 

Yea, even while they brake them, own'd me King. 

And well for thee, saying in my dark hour, 

When all the purport of my throne hath fail'd, 160 

That quick or dead thou holdest me for King. 

King am I, whatsoever be their cry; 

And one last act of kinghood shalt thou see 

Yet, ere I pass." And uttering this the King 

Made at the man : then Modred smote his liege 165 

Hard on that helm which many a heathen sword 

Had beaten thin; while Arthur at one blow, 

Striking the last stroke with Excalibur, 

Slew him, and all but slain himself, he fell. 

So all day long the noise of battle roU'd 170 

Among the mountains by the winter sea; 
Until King Arthur's Table, man by man, 
Had fall'n in Lyonnesse about their lord. 
King Arthur. Then, because his wound was deep. 
The bold Sir Bedivere uplifted him, 175 

And bore him to a chapel nigh the field, 
A broken chancel with a broken cross. 
That stood on a dark strait of barren land: 
On one side lay the Ocean, and on one 
Lay a great water, and the moon was full. 180 

Then spake King Arthur to Sir Bedivere : 
" The sequel of to-day unsolders all 
The goodliest fellowship of famous knights 
Whereof this world holds record. Such a sleep 
They sleep — the men I loved. I think that we 185 

Shall never more, at any future time. 
Delight our souls with talk of knightly deeds, 
Walking about the gardens and the halls 
Of Camelot, as in the days that were. 



no IDYLLS Of THE KING. 

I perish by this people which I made, — 190 

Tho' MerHn sware that I should come again 

To rule once more ; but, let what will be, be, 

I am so deeply smitten thro' the helm 

That without help I cannot last till morn. 

Thou therefore take my brand Excalibur, 195 

Which was my pride : for thou rememberest how 

In those old days, one summer noon, an arm 

Rose up from out the bosom of the lake, 

Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful. 

Holding the sword — and how I row'd across 200 

And took it, and have worn it, like a king; 

And, wheresoever I am sung or told 

In aftertime, this also shall be known : 

But now delay not, take Excalibur, 

And fling him far into the middle mere : 205 

Watch what thou seest, and lightly bring me word." 

To him replied the bold Sir Bedivere: 
" It is not meet. Sir King, to leave thee thus. 
Aidless, alone, and smitten thro' the helm — 
A little thing may harm a wounded man: 210 

Yet I thy best will all perform at full. 
Watch what I see, and lightly bring thee word." 

So saying, from the ruin'd shrine he stept, 
And in the moon athwart the place of tombs, 
Where lay the mighty bones of ancient men, 215 

Old knights, and over them the sea-wind sang 
Shrill, chill, with flakes of foam. He, stepping down 
By zigzag paths, and juts of pointed rock. 
Came on the shining levels of the lake. 

There drew he forth the brand Excalibur, 220 

And o'er him, drawing it, the winter moon, 



THE PASSING OF ARTHUR. Ill 

Brightening the skirts of a long cloud, ran forth 

And sparkled keen with frost against the hilt : 

For all the haft twinkled with diamond sparks, 

Myriads of topaz-lights, and jacinth-work 225 

Of subtlest jewellery. He gazed so long 

That both his eyes were dazzled as he stood. 

This way and that dividing the swift mind. 

In act to throw : but at the last it seem'd 

Better to leave Excalibur conceal'd 236 

There in the many-knotted waterfiags. 

That whistled stiff and dry about the marge. 

So strode he back slow to the wounded King. 

Then spake King Arthur to Sir Bedivere: 
" Hast thou perform'd my mission which I gave ? 235 

What is it thou hast seen ? or what hast heard ? " 

And answer made the bold Sir Bedivere: 
" I heard the ripple washing in the reeds, 
And the wild water lapping on the crag." 

To whom replied King Arthur, faint and pale; 240 

" Thou hast betray'd thy nature and thy name, 
Not rendering true answer, as beseem'd 
Thy fealty, nor like a noble knight: 
For surer sign had follow'd, either hand, 
Or voice, or else a motion of the mere. 245 

This is a shameful thing for men to lie. 
Yet now, I charge thee, quickly go again, • 
As thou art lief and dear, and do the thing 
I bade thee, watch, and lightly bring me word." 

Then went Sir Bedivere the second time 250 

Across the ridge, and paced beside the mere. 
Counting the dewy pebbles, fix'd in thought; 
But when he saw the wonder of the hilt. 



112 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

How curiously and strangely chased, he smote 
His palms together, and he cried aloud : 

" And if indeed I cast the brand away, 
Surely a precious thing, one worthy note. 
Should thus be lost forever from the earth. 
Which might have pleased the eyes of many men. 
What good should follow this, if this were done ? 
What harm, undone? Deep harm to disobey, 
Seeing obedience is the bond of rule. 
Were it well to obey then, if a king demand 
An act unprofitable, against himself? 
The King is sick, and knows not what he does. 
What record, or what relic of my lord 
Should be to aftertime, but empty breath' 
And rumors of a doubt? But were this kept, 
Stored in some treasure-house of mighty kings. 
Some one might show it at a joust of arms. 
Saying, ' King Arthur's sword, Excalibur, 
Wrought by the lonely maiden of the Lake. 
Nine years she wrought it, sitting in the deeps 
Upon the hidden bases of the hills.' 
So might some old man speak in the aftertime 
To all the people, winning reverence. 
But now much honor and much fame were lost." 

So spake he, clouded with his own conceit, 
And hid Excalibur the second time. 
And so strode back slow to the wounded King. 

Then spoke King Arthur, breathing heavily: 
" What is it thou hast seen ? or what hast heard ? " 

And answer made the bold Sir Bedivere: 
" I heard the water lapping on the crag, 
And the long ripple washing in the reeds." 



THE PASSING OF ARTHUR. II3 

To wham replied King Arthur, much in wrath: 
" Ah, miserable and unkind, untrue, 
Unknightly, traitor-hearted ! Woe is me ! 
Authority forgets a dying king. 

Laid widow 'd of the power in his eye 290 

That bow'd the will. I see thee what thou art, 
For thou, the latest-left of all my knights. 
In whom should meet the offices of all. 
Thou wouldst betray me for the precious hilt; 
Either from lust of gold, or like a girl 295 

Valuing the giddy pleasure of the eyes. 
Yet, for a man may fail in duty twice. 
And the third time may prosper, get thee hence : 
But, if thou spare to fling Excalibur, 
I will arise and slay thee with my hands." 300 

Then quickly rose Sir Bedivere, and ran. 
And, leaping down the ridges lightly, plunged 
Among the bulrush beds, and clutch'd the sword. 
And strongly wheel'd and threw it. The great brand 
Made lightnings in the splendor of the moon, 305 

And flashing round and round, and whirl'd in an arch. 
Shot like a streamer of the northern morn, 
Seen where the moving isles of winter shock 
By night, with noises of the Northern Sea. 
So flash'd and fell the brand ExcaHbur: 310 

But ere he dipt the surface, rose an arm 
Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful. 
And caught him by the hilt, and brandish'd him 
Three times, and drew him under in the mere. 
And lightly went the other to the King. 315 

Then spoke King Arthur, drawing thicker breath : 
" Now see I by thine eyes that this is done. 
Speak out: what is it thou hast heard, or seen? " 



114 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

And answer made the bold Sir Bedivere: 
" Sir King, I closed mine eyelids, lest the gems 320 

Should blind my purpose, for I never saw, 
Nor shall see, here or elsewhere, till I die, 
Not tho' I live three lives of mortal men, 
So great a miracle as yonder hilt. 

Then with both hands I flung him, wheeling him ; 325 

But when I look'd again, behold an arm. 
Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful, 
That caught him by the hilt and brandish'd him 
Three times, and drew him under in the mere.". 

And answer made King Arthur, breathing hard : 330 
" My end draws nigh ; 't is time that I were gone. 
Make broad thy shoulders to receive my weight. 
And bear me to the margin ; yet I fear 
My wound hath taken cold, and I shall die." 

So saying, from the pavement he half rose, 335 

Slowly, with pain, reclining on his arm. 
And looking wistfully with wide blue eyes 
As in a picture. Him Sir Bedivere 
Remorsefully regarded thro' his tears, 
And would have spoken, but he found not words ; 340 

Then took with care, and kneeling on one knee, 
O'er both his shoulders drew the languid hands. 
And rising bore him thro' the place of tombs. 

But, as he walk'd. King Arthur panted hard. 
Like one that feels a nightmare on his bed 345 

When all the house is mute. So sigh'd the King, 
Muttering and murmuring at his ear, " Quick, quick ! 
I fear it is too late, and I shall die." 
But the other swiftly strode from ridge to ridge. 
Clothed with his breath, and looking, as he walk'd, 350 



THE PASSING OF ARTHUR. Il5 

Larger than human on the frozen hills. 

He heard the deep behind him, and a cry 

Before. His own thought drove him like a goad. 

Dry clash'd his harness in the icy caves 

And barren chasms, and all to left and right 355 

The bare black cliff clang'd round him, as he based 

His feet on juts of slippery crag that rang 

Sharp-smitten with the dint of armed heels — 

And on a sudden, lo ! the level lake, 

And the long glories of the winter moon. 360 

Then saw they how there hove a dusky barge, 
Dark as a funeral scarf from stem to stern, 
Beneath them ; and descending they were ware 
That all the decks were dense with stately forms, 
Black-stoled, black-hooded, like a dream — by these 365 
Three Queens with crowns of gold : and from them rose 
A cry that shiver'd to the tingling stars. 
And, as it were one voice, an agony 
Of lamentation, like a wind that shrills 
All night in a waste land, where no one comes, 370 

Or hath come, since the making of the world. 

Then murmur'd Arthur, " Place me in the barge." 
So to the barge they came. There those three Queens 
Put forth their hands, and took the King, and wept. 
But she, that rose the tallest of them all 375 

And fairest, laid his head upon her lap, 
And loosed the shatter'd casque, and chafed his hands. 
And call'd him by his name, complaining loud. 
And dropping bitter tears against a brow 
Striped with dark blood : for all his face was white 380 
And colorless, and like the wither'd moon 
Smote by the fresh beam of the springing east ; 
And all his greaves and cuisses dash'd with drops 



no IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

Of onset ; and the light and lustrous curls — 

That made his forehead like a rising sun 385 

High from the dais-throne — were parch'd with dust ; 

Or, clotted into points and hanging loose, 

Mix'd with the knightly growth that fringed his lips. 

So like a shatter'd column lay the King; 

Not like that Arthur who, with lance in rest, 390 

From spur to plume a star of tournament. 

Shot thro' the lists at Camelot, and charged 

Before the eyes of ladies and of kings. 

Then loudly cried the bold Sir Bedivere: 
"Ah! my Lord Arthur, whither shall I go? 395 

Where shall I hide my forehead and my eyes? 
For now I see the true old times are dead. 
When every morning brought a noble chance, 
And every chance brought out a noble knight. 
Such times have been not since the light that led 400 

The holy Elders with the gift of myrrh. 
But now the whole Round Table is dissolved 
Which was an image of the mighty world 
And I, the last, go forth companionless, 
And the days darken round me, and the years, 405 

Among new men, strange faces, other minds." 

And slowly answer'd Arthur from the barge : 
" The old order changeth, yielding place to new. 
And God fulfils himself in many ways, 
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world. 410 

Comfort thyself: what comfort is in me? 
I have lived my life, and that which I have done 
May He within himself make pure! but thou. 
If thou should st never see my face again. 
Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer 415 
Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice 



THE PASSING OF ARTHUR. W] 

Rise like a fountain for me night and day. 

For what are men better than sheep or goats 

That nourish a bhnd Hfe within the brain, 

If, knowing God, they Hft not hands of prayer 420 

Both for themselves and those who call them friend? 

For so the whole round earth is every way 

Bound by gold chains about the feet of God. 

But now farewell. I am going a long way 

With these thou seest — if indeed I go 425 

(For all my mind is clouded with a doubt) — 

To the island-valley of Avilion ; 

Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow. 

Nor ever wind blows loudly ; but it lies 

Deep-meadow'd, happy, fair with orchard lawns 430 

And bowery hollows crown'd with summer sea, 

Where I will heal me of my grievous wound." 

So said he, and the barge with oar and sail 
Moved from the brink, like some full-breasted swan 
That, fluting a wild carol ere her death, 435 

Ruffles her pure cold plume, and takes the flood 
With swarthy webs. Long stood Sir Bedivere 
Revolving many memories, till the hull 
Look'd one black dot against the verge of dawn, 
And on the mere the wailing died away. 440 

But when that moan had past for evermore. 
The stillness of the dead world's winter dawn 
Amazed him, and he groan'd, " The King is gone." 
And therewithal came on him the weird rhyme, 
" From the great deep to the great deep he goes." 445 

Whereat he slowly turn'd and slowly clomb 
The last hard footstep of that iron crag; 
Thence mark'd the black hull moving yet, and cried, 



Il8 IDYLLS OF THE KING. 

" He passes to be King- among the dead, 

And after healing- of his grievous wound 450 

He comes again ; but — if he come no more — 

O me, be yon dark Queens in yon black boat, 

Who shriek'd and vvail'd, the three whereat we gazed 

Qn that high day, when, clothed with living light, 

They stood before his throne in silence, friends 455 

Of Arthur, who should help him at his need ? " 

Then from the dawn it seem'd there came, but faint, 
As from beyond the limit of the world. 
Like the last echo born of a great cry, 

Sounds, as if some fair city were one voice 460 

Around a king returning from his wars. 

Thereat once more he moved about, and clomb 
Ev'n to the highest he could climb, and saw, 
Straining his eyes beneath an arch of hand. 
Or thought he saw, the speck that bare the King, 465 

Down that long water opening on the deep 
Somewhere far off, pass on and on, and go 
From less to less and vanish into light. 
And the new sun rose bringing the new year. 



NOTES. 



THE COMING OF ARTHUR. 

Line i. Cameliard is supposed to be Scotland. 

4. The name Guinevere appears in many forms. Welsh bards 
call her Gwenhwyvar; Geoffrey of Monmouth calls her Guanhu- 
mara. 

5. Brut (Brutus), Lear, and Cassibelan are the best known of 
the petty kings of Britain. 

8. The Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, who invaded Britain at this 
time, were the heathen host here referred to. 

13. Aurelius is said to have been Uther's brother. 

15. The use of " either " in this line is a common archaism. Note 
the large number used in this poem. 

17. There were one hundred and fifty seats at the Round Table. 
One of these was called the Siege Perilous, because it swallowed up 
anyone daring to sit in it who was not pure in word, thought, and 
deed. Sir Galahad was the only one of the knights who could sit 
in it. In this line the expression " Table Round " is used to de- 
note King Arthur's knights. 

29. Popular traditions, whether true or not, relate that wolves 
have sometimes stolen children and cared for them as for their 
own young. Children thus reared, however, have never been 
known to arrive at maturity. Perhaps in this is the foundation for 
the old belief in the were-wolf. Compare the story of Romulus 
and Remus, or of Mowgli in the " Jungle Book." 

34. Littledale suggests this is probably a reference to Gildas, who 
says that the Britons wrote to the Roman senate : " The barbarians 
drive us into the sea; the sea throws us back on the barbarians; 
thus two modes of death await us — we are either slain or drowned." 

36. Urien is called Rience in the first edition of the poem and 
in Malory. He was a king of North Wales. Malory tells us that 
he sent to Arthur insolently demanding his beard, to complete the 
mantle edged with kings' beards which he was making. 

^2. Gorlois was the first husband of Arthur's mother, Ygerne, 
and was Duke of Tintagil in Cornwall. 

73. Anton is the Sir Hector of the romance. Merlin had given 
the baby Arthur to him to be brought up. 

94-133 are not in the first edition. What are the particular rea- 
sons for their introdu.ction? 

99. Is this a possibility? 

106. The " Powers " here referred to probably typify the magical 
aid that was constantly used by Merlin to help Arthur. 
119 



I20 NOTES. 

130. Each had guarded. 

132. Littledale thus explains this expression: A man's promise 
is a divine thing; therefore it must be regarded as especially sacred. 

124-133. Remember this first mention of Lancelot, and see if the 
promises made by him and Arthur were kept. 

141. Compare " holp " with " clomb " in the "Lotus Eaters." 
It is rather a pity we have lost these strong preterits from our 
modern speech. 

160-162. That is, not at all. 

166. The cuckoo steals its nest. Since Arthur is said to be the 
son of Uther, the application is plain. 

186. Tintagil is a small town on the Bristol Channel in Cornwall, 
near Camelford. There are the ruins of a castle there. The fol- 
lowing are extracts from Tennyson's journal of a tour in Cornwall 
in 1848, when he was preparing the " Idylls " : 

" Sunday. — Went and sat in Tintagil ruins, cliff all black and red 
and yellow, weird-looking thing. 

" ytli. Camelford, Slaughter Bridge, clear brook among alders. 
Sought for King Arthur's stone, found it at last by a rock under 
two or three sycamores." 

187. Other forms are Igraine, Igrayne, Igerna. 

194. She loathed " the guilty splendor of King Uther's love." — 
Littledale. 

233. Alludes to the episode of the sword in the anvil. See in- 
troduction. 

244. Bellicent was Arthur's half-sister. See line 189, above. 

247. That is, will soon melt away. 

2Di. The vows are given thus in another one of the Idylls: 

" My knights are sworn to vows 
Of utter hardihood, utter gentleness. 
And loving utter gentleness in love, 
And uttermost obedience to the king." 

See also " Guinevere," lines 463-473. 

268, 269, 270. Why? 

275. These queens (who appear again in " The Passing of Ar- 
thur") symbolize Faith, Hope, and Chanty (Love). 

279. Mage Merlin symbolizes the intellect of man. 

282. The Lady of the Lake symbolizes the church. Notice the 
appropriateness of all the details of this description, and explain 
the peculiar force of each of them. 

284. Samite was a cloth made of silk interwoven with gold or 
silver thread. It is a favorite word with Tennyson. This line oc- 
curs elsewhere in the " Idylls." 

285. " And as they rode, Arthur said, I have no sword. No 
force, said Merlin, hereby is a sword that shall be yours and I may. 
So they rode till they came to a lake, the which was a fair water 
and broad, and in the midst of the lake Arthur was ware of an 
arm clothed in white samite, that held a fair sword in that hand. 
Lo, said Merlin, yonder is that sword that I spake of. With that 
they saw a damsel going upon the lake. What damsel is that? 
said Arthur. That is the Lady of the Lake, said Merlin. Anon 
withal came the damsel unto Arthur and saluted him, and he her 



NOTES. 121 

again. Damsel, said Arthur, what sword is that, that yonder the 
arm holdeth above the water? I would it were mine, for I have 
no sword. Sir Arthur king, said the damsel, that sword is mine, 
and if ye will give me a gift when I ask it you, ye shall have it. 
By my faith, said Arthur, 1 will give you what gift ye will ask. Well, 
said the damsel, go ye into yonder barge and row yourself to the 
sword and take it and the scabbard with you, and I will ask my 
gift when I see my time." — Malory. 

290. " A voice as of the waters." See Rev. i. 15. " And his 
[Christ's] voice as the voice of many waters." 

294. " There." Where? 

294. " The name of it, said the lady, is Excalibur, that is as much 
to say as Cut-steel." — Malory. 

According to the old romance of Merlin, the inscription on the 
sword was as follows: 

" Ich am yhote Escaliboure, 
Unto a kinge fair tresore. 
(On Englis is this writing, 
Kerve steel, and yron, and all thing.)" 

In early times it was customary for a warrior to have a name 
for his favorite sword. Excalibur is the most famous of all. 

297. The sword is described in " The Passing of Arthur," lines 
224-226. 

298. The expression " elfin Urim " has reference to the mystic 
appearance of jewels on the breast-plate of the Jewish high-priest. 
See Exodus xxviii. 15—30. The word " Urim " means Lights, and 
it is said to be elfin because the jewels had a magic or fairy sig- 
nification. 

301. Hebrew. 

319—324. The bent of the youths is thus early shown. 

334- 335- What would this indicate? 

346. The power of a witch or wizard to walk unseen was a mat- 
ter of general belief. Even ordinary mortals, it was said, could walk 
unseen if they would scatter fernseed in their shoes. 

362. " One injury of a very serious nature was supposed to be 
constantly practised by the fairies against the human mortals, that 
of carrying off their children and breeding them as beings of their 
race. Unchristened infants were chiefly exposed to this calamity." 
— Scott's " Demonology and Witchcraft." Changelings were sup- 
posed to be recognized by their shrivelled and pinched faces. 

367. Compare with the story as told in the romance. 

379. The Romans used to say the tenth wave was the largest. 
What do we say now? 

389. Why? 

401. Most of the early Welsh and Breton poetry is in this form. 
See " Gareth and Lynette," 280 : 

" Know ye not then the Riddling of the Bards, 
' Confusion, and illusion, and relation, 
Elusion, and occasion, and evasion? ' " 

402-410. This song should be carefully interpreted. Stopford 
Brooke says of it, " The graciousness of the rivulet-music and soft 



122 NOTES. 

play of nature is in the lines of this delicate song, and the gayety 
of youth; and mingled with these the deep and favorite thought 
of Tennyson of the pre-existence of the soul." 
408, 409. 

" Flower in the crannied wall, 
I pluck you out of the crannies, 
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand, 
Little flower — but if I could understand 
What you are, root and all, and all in all, 
I should know what God and man is." 

420. Compare with Malory : " Yet some men say in many parts 
of England that King Arthur is not dead, but had by the will of 
our Lord Jesu in another place. And men say that he shall come 
again, and he shall win the holy cross. I will not say it shall be 
so, but rather I will say, here in this world he changed his life. 
But many men say there is written upon his tomb this verse, * Hie 
jacet Arthurus Rex quondam Rexque futurus.' " 

The Britons, even at a late date, used to cry aloud at their feasts, 
" Non le roi Arthur n'est pas mort." 

There are similar legends about many other leaders of ancient 
times, for instance Barbarossa and Wilhelm Tell. 

429. Compare with these lines in the " Dedication to the Queen " : 

" That gray king, whose name, a ghost. 
Streams like a cloud, man-shaped, from mountain peak." 

431. The farm servant dies in the fight, and the cattle are driven 
ofif as plunder. 

425-443. The dreams in the "Idylls" should be carefully noted 
and interpreted. 

446-451. Read Tennyson's earlier poem, " Sir Lancelot and 
Queen Guinevere." 

454. " The king was wedded at Camelot unto Dame Guinever in 
the church of St. Stephen's, with great solemnity." — Malory. 

460. Hawthorn blooms are here called May. 

467. Compare with lines 131— 133, above. 

481-501. Notice " the very rattle and shattering of the vowels in 
the words." — Brooke. 

488. " There's such divinity doth hedge a king." — Shakespeare. 

504. Rome had been obliged before this time to withdraw her 
soldiers from Britain. She needed all her legions at home to pro- 
tect her against the barbarian hordes who were pouring in upon 
her from the north. 

508. This line should be remembered. It is often quoted. 

511. Several walls were built by the Romans across north Eng- 
land and fortified to keep out raids of the Picts and Scots. Re- 
mains are still to be seen. The one built by the Emperor Hadrian 
was the strongest. 

517. Compare with " Lancelot and Elaine," 286-309. 

" In the curt answer to the Roman envoys, and the words ' Ar- 
thur strove with Rome,' the poet in a few lines disposes of an 
amount of pseudo-history that occupies nearly half of Geoffrey's 
entire narrative. But even Tennyson's brief allusion to Arthur's 



NOTES. 123 

Roman war has no foundation in history. The Britons were too 
weak to drive the heathen, the Picts and Scots, from the Roman 
wall themselves, and hence they called in the Saxons to help them 
after the Romans had finally declined to aliford further aid. This 
tribute even is a myth." — Littledale. 

TOPICS FOR A WRITTEN REVIEW OF THE POEM. 

a. Comparison of Tennyson's version of the story with that of the 

romance. 

b. Diction of the poem. 

1. Archaisms. 

2. Fine lines — musical, forceful, expressive. 

3. Songs. 

c. Symbolism of the poem. 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE. 

2. Malory tells us that Astolat is the same as Guilford, in Surrey. 
Astolat is also called Ascolot in an old romance, from which comes 
the form Shalott. " The Lady of Shalott " is founded on this same 
story, but in that poem the lady is used as the type of the poet, 
who must not contaminate himself by contact with the world, on 
pain of losing the poetic inspiration. 

9. Blazonry must be in colors. 

23. Caerleon was Arthur's capital. It is supposed to have been 
the same as Monmouth in Wales. Camelot was a city where Arthur 
held court, said to be the present town of Queen's Camel in Somer- 
setshire. 

28. Notice that Tennyson begins with the middle of the story and 
goes back to its beginning. Why? 

35. Lyonnesse was the name of a district of Cornwall which was 
supposed to stretch between what is now Land's End and the 
Scilly Isles, but is now buried under the sea. 

36. Notice the use of primitive northern words in this passage — 
glen, bowlder, tarn, crag, shingly scaur. 

59. " Divinely " here means guided by Providence. 

65. The Angles, Saxons, and Jutes are again referred to as " the 
heathen." 

67. The word " still " has here the Shakespearean meaning — con- 
stantly, ever. 

76. London. 

94. The word " lets " has here its primitive meaning — hinders. 
Compare with " Hamlet " : 

" I'll make a ghost of him that lets me." 

106. Notice the vigor of the condensed form, " myriad cricket." 

108. That is, all together make only a confused murmur amount- 
ing to nothing. 

118. " Devoir," duty of a knight to a lady. 

121. Notice the low plane of this speech. It gives the keynote 
to the failure of the married life of Arthur and Guinevere. 



1 24 NOTES. 

132. A famous line which should be remembered. 

134. Alluding to the colors of sunrise and sunset. 

135. The " bond " of marriage is here meant. 

145. The word " craft " has here its original meaning of skill. 
An instance of the degeneration of words. It now usually carries 
a suggestion of underhandedness. 

154. Notice the covert sneer. 

168. It was customary to hang a horn at the gateway of a castle 
so that the wayfarer might summon the gatekeeper. 

170. A knight could not remove his own armor. Hence the 
necessity for squires. 

199. .A churl was the exact antithesis of a knight. 

201. " Allow him," that is, pardon him. 

230. How well Tennyson gives us a distinct idea of a man by a 
few words. 

236. Compare with " Sweets to the sweet." — Hamlet, v. i. 

246. The nobility of his nature is shown by the marks of strug- 
gle on his face. He is not a hardened sinner. 

259. Notice the short Saxon words. Why forceful here? 

269. " Glanced at," that is, referred to lightly. 

279. This was a battle of actual occurrence. The Britons in the 
year 520 here checked the progress of the West Saxons. The bat- 
tle is said to have occurred on Badbury Hill in Dorsetshire. 
Legend says Arthur alone killed 940 in it. All the other battles 
here mentioned are mythical. 

297. The White Horse was the national emblem of the Saxon 
chiefs. On a chalk hill in Berkshire is cut a figure of a white 
horse to commemorate a victory of Alfred over the Danes in 871. 
It is 374 feet long, and can be seen at a distance of fifteen miles. 

314. " The fire of God." See " The Coming of Arthur." 127. 

325. Had striven to entertain him. 

338. The word " rathe " was formerly used to mean early. Our 
word rather is its comparative form. 

338. Half cheating herself. 

347. To flatter was originally to pet, to stroke. 

356. Any trifle worn by a knight as a token from his lady was 
known as a favor. A sleeve, a cufif, a ribbon, or a glove was a 
common favor. 

377. Why was the shield " yet-unblazon'd "? 

381. " It is a favor to me, the second to-day." The squire bore 
the shield of his knight. 

396. This line brings us to the beginning of the poem. 

409. Remember how leaves rustle in the rain. Noise is used in 
the archaic sense of pleasant sound. 

422. Arthur is called Pendragon because he is the son of Uther 
Pendragon. The name is said to have originated from the follow- 
ing occurrence. In a battle between Uther and the Saxons a ter- 
rible dragon appeared in the air, breathing out smoke and flame. 
The Saxons were dismayed, and Merlin told Uther to attack the 
enemy boldly and said, " All the island shall submit to thee, for 
thou art the fiery dragon." Uther is called Pendragon, or Dragon's 
Head, from this. 

431. See " The Coming of Arthur," 284. 



NOTES. 125 

444-450. Generous and noble and modest reply. The last part is 
from the famous saying of Socrates when informed that the 
Delphic oracle had pronounced him the wisest of the Greeks. He 
merely remarked that he might be the wisest since he knew that 
he knew nothing while the others knew not even so much. 

457. If anyone had failed to come to the joust. 

465. The knights of the Round Table held the lists, that is, await- 
ed the attack. 

473. Elaine's suggestion proves true. 

482. Alluding to the spray. 

484. That is, him that steers it. 

489. Malory says, " And Sir Lavaine did full well that day, for 
he smote down ten knights of the Table Round." 

502. Such phrases as " diamond me no diamonds " are used as a 
form of indignant denial by Shakespeare. 

514. Malory's words are, " Gave a great shriek and a marvellous 
grisly groan." 

525. The marches were the boundary lands. Mark is another 
form of the same word. Such a lord was called a marquis. 

534. " Pass," die. 

545. " Bring us " word. 

557. It is hard to forgive Tennyson the change he makes in the 
character of this knight. In the romance he is second only to 
Lancelot in knightly courtesy and noble deeds, and is the dear 
and trusted friend of both Arthur and Lancelot. 

583. Who had said this? 

592. " So fine " means here over-sensitive. It is perhaps said 
sarcastically. 

635. Why this remark? 

660. "Ramp," that is rampant; a term used in heraldry, mean- 
ing standing upright on hind legs. The other common positions 
are dormant (sleeping), couchant (lying), saltant (leaping). 

661. Notice the irony in this line. 
675—678. " Honi soit qui mal y pense." 

684. Elaine does not even understand his innuendoes. 

685—700. Gawaine judges others by himself. 

707. Why " our "? 

728. Took the news so calmly as to disappoint the old busybody. 

769, 770. Alluding to what? 

794. Being cross with them, as we should say. 

798. His own distant kindred. 

836. The position of the " not " is archaic. 

871, 872. These are famous lines which should be remembered. 
Faith to the queen makes him unfaithful to the king. 

875. " The devil was sick, the devil a monk would be; 

The devil was well, the devil a monk was he."— i?a6^/ow. 

885. " Ere her time," that is, before evening. 

889—893. Notice how many of Tennyson's similes are derived 
from a close acquaintance with birds. 

905. Animals for sacrifice were adorned with flowers. 

923. That is, that I am alive is due to your care. 

939- " Quit," requite. 

953. Brittany. 



1 26 NOTES. 

995. " Sallow-rifted glooms," that is, the darkening sky with the 
pale yellow light of sunset still lingering. 

1012. " Scaled," rose. 

1015. Such a phantom was called a banshee. Many tales of them 
are told. Compare with the story of the White Lady of the Hohen- 
zollerns. 

1041. Compare with her previous dream, line 210, above. 

1048. Compare with these lines from "The Lady of Shalott": 

" But Lancelot mused a little space; 
He said, ' She hath a lovely face; 
God in his mercy lend her grace, 
The Lady of Shalott.' " 

1080. " Never yet was noble man but made ignoble talk." This 
should be remembered. 

1092. " Ghostly man," the usual expression for a priest in Malory. 

1 109. Malory has her say, " And while my body is hot let this 
letter be put in my right hand, and my hand bound fast with the 
letter until that I be cold." 

1 1 17. Notice the regularity of the meter in this line. 

1 128, 1 129. Notice the extreme brevity and simplicity of these 
lines. 

1129. " Dole," grief. 

1146-1154. Favorite subject in art. Rosenthal's picture is the 
best known, and good copies of it can be obtained. 

1 170. " Summer side," south. 

1 1 78. The cygnet or young swan has dark, sooty-brown plumage. 

1 183. What rumors were these? 

1207, 1208. Remember this expression. 

1219— 1221. This is a cutting paraphrase of his own words. 

1233. See lines 211-218. 

1243. Like the Old Man of the Mountain in the White Moun- 
tains. 

1250. See " The Coming of Arthur," line 420. 

1316. " Worship," honor. 

1319. Malory says that the " shrine " here mentioned was West- 
minster. 

1334. Malory says, " And so upon the morn she was interred 
richly, and Sir Lancelot offered her mass-penny, and all the knights 
of the Round Table that were there at the time offered with Sir 
Lancelot." 

1346. " Affiance," trust, confidence. 

1385. " Farewell too — now at last," see line 980, above. 

1418. See introduction on " The Passing of Arthur." 



NOTES. 127 



TOPICS FOR A WRITTEN REVIEW OF THE POEM. 

a. (See " The Coming of Arthur," page 29.) 

b. (See "The Coming of Arthur," page 29.) 

c. The dreams. 

d. Character sketches of 

1. Elaine. 

2. Guinevere. 

3. Lancelot. 

e. Is the fate of Elaine pathetic, tragic, or merely sentimental? 
Why? 



GUINEVERE. 

2. Almesbury is in Wiltshire. The ruins of the abbey church 
are still standing. The nunnery is of very ancient foundation, and 
was one of the richest in England. It was broken up in the time 
of Henry VIII. 

15. " Lords of the White Horse." See " Lancelot and Elaine," 
297- 

16. Hengist and Horsa were the Saxon chiefs who came to Eng- 
land first, 450 A.D. 

22. See " The Coming of Arthur," 460. Of what color were the 
plumes? 

36. " Prince " because son of Lot and Bellicent of Orkney. 

56. An old superstition. 

64. " The Powers that tend the soul," the pangs of conscience. 
The death that cannot die is perhaps the everlasting punishment 
after death. See Mark ix. 48. 

T2)- Alluding to the superstition that blood spilt in a murder can 
never be washed away from the floor or walls of a house. 

75. Interpret the dream. 

119. Sanctuary was a sacred place which aflforded protection from 
arrest. The peculiar atrocity of the murder of Becket was that it 
was committed in a church, a place where even a criminal was 
supposed to be safe. 

126. " Weald," wold, wood. 

129. " Too late " for what? 

132. The raven was the favorite bird of Odin, the Norse god of 
war. It was supposed to scent coming death. 

146. " For housel or for shrift," taking the sacrament of the 
Lord's Supper and receiving absolution from the priest. 

147. " Communed " is accented on the first syllable, as in Shake- 
speare. 

165. The parable of the wise and foolish virgins is in Matthew xxv. 
179. " Her thought " — what thought? 

243. The " strong man-breasted things " were perhaps mermen. 
249. " Spirits," elves or fairies. 

254. The fairies were supposed to dance in circles. Where their 
light feet touched the earth, the grass became fresher and greener, 



128 NOTES. 

forming fairy-rings. These were really due to the growth of an 
underground fungus which spread in a circle. 

288. Bude and Bos were districts in Cornwall. The following 
is an extract from Tennyson's journal, written during a tour in 
Cornwall: 

" Tuesday, May 30. — Arrived at Bude in the dark. Asked girl the 
way to the sea; she opens the back door. I go out, and in a mo- 
ment go sheer down, upward of six feet, over wall on fangled 
cobbles." 

Before Tennyson went to Cornwall, he had wished to make a 
lonely sojourn at Bude. " I hear," he said, " that there are larger 
waves there than on any other part of the British coast; and must 
go thither and be alone with God." 

2>2>^, 22>i- Remember these lines. 

337. " Disloyal " may be contrasted with " loyal " in 333. 

343. That is, failed to live up to his noble intentions. 

347—350. The novice could as soon believe that the Queen could 
have manners like the lady she speaks to, as believe Lancelot's as 
noble as the King's. 

355. That is, " Never again pretend to be an innocent maiden." 

366. " Fearful," full of fear. 

381. Accent " retinue " on the second syllable, as in Shakespeare. 

396. " Well," spring. 

423. " The craft of kindred " refers to the treachery of his nephew 
Modred. 

428. See " Lancelot and Elaine," 286-300. 

457. " Errant," so called because they vowed to wander for a 
certain period in search of adventures. 

484. Tristram was married to Isolt of Brittany (of the White 
Hands), but fell in love with Isolt la Belle, wife of Mark, King 
of Cornwall. He carries her away, but Mark finally kills him. 
The story is told in " The Last Tournament," the Idyll preceding 
" Guinevere." 

499. " Camelot." See " Lancelot and Elaine," 23. " Usk " is 
the same as Caerleon. 

In September, 1856, Tennyson was at Caerleon during a tour in 
Wales and writes, " The Usk murmurs by the windows, and I sit 
like King Arthur in Caerleon. This is a most quiet, half-ruined 
village of about 1,500 inhabitants, with a little museum of Roman 
tomb-stones and other things." 

525, 526. Notice the art of Tennyson in inserting these lines at 
this point. 

533, 534- Alluding to what? See introduction to the Idyll. 

572. Alluding to the prophecies that he should " not die, but 
pass, again to come." 

578, 579. Ruskin admired these lines especially. He also says, 
" I am not sure but I feel the art and finish in these poems a little 
more than I like to feel it." 

584-594. Here is an exceedingly pictorial passage. 

603. Is the inserted simile natural? 

610. A critic has remarked that it was the kind of mercy to choke. 

618-620. Observe the dreary desolation in these lines. 

641. She had said, " The low sun makes the color." 



NOTES. 129 

654. This is a good line to remember. 
658. Answering her unspoken prayer for forgiveness. 
676. " Dole," alms. 
678. " Haler," sounder, in spirit. 
681. " Voluptuous day," a time of careless pleasure. 
684. The keynote is struck once again. 

691. " The pathetic gentleness of the cadence in the last line is 
as exquisite as that in Milton's finest verse: 

' And I shall shortly be with them that rest.' " — Littledale. 



THE PASSING OF ARTHUR. 

2. Bedivere was " the first of all his knights knighted by Arthur." 
All through this poem, its symmetry with " The Coming of Ar- 
thur " should be carefully noted. 

13. " For why," archaism for wherefore. This poem is the most 
archaic in diction of all the Idylls. 

31, 32. The fickleness and instability in Gawain's character are in- 
dicated well by having his ghost blown on the wind. 

35. " The island-valley of Avilion." 

41. What effect does the break so early in the line have? 

53, 54. Many high places in Great Britain are named in honor of 
him; for instance Arthur's Seat, near Edinburgh, and Arthur's 
Stone on a hill in Wales. 

72. This line should be remembered. 

81. " Lyonnesse," see " Lancelot and Elaine," 35. This battle is 
sometimes located in Brittany. 

87. The faint and misty horizon line where sky and sea meet. 

90. Midwinter. 

92. Why have the battle in this exact location?. 

96. Compare the description of this battle with the one in " The 
Coming of Arthur," 95-99. 

108-110. Onomatopoetic lines. 

114— 117. We have here a wild and confused picture, like some 
of Dore's battle scenes. 

118-135. Note the weird, ghostly quality of all this description, 
seen even in the figures of speech used. Tennyson has succeeded 
excellently in imparting to the poem the effect of weirdness which 
is so striking a characteristic of Celtic literature. 

130, 131. The tide is coming in. Note the swaying of the lines. 

135. The ocean is here used as the symbol of eternity. 

147-153. Here speaks the loyal stanch English heart, faithful 
not only unto death, but beyond it. Sir Bedivere is an admirable 
character, well portrayed in our minds from his actions and words 
without any distinct description of him. He is the solid, distinct 
figure in the poem; all the rest is misty, doubtful, uncertain. 

154. " My house," my kindred, referring to his nephew Modred. 

170-440. These lines were published in 1842 under the title of 
" Morte d' Arthur." 

180. Note the artistic effect of this vagueness of expression. 
Why used? Would it have been more effective to have no moon? 

9 



I30 NOTES. 

197-201. See note on " The Coming of Arthur," 285. 

205. Excalibur is Arthur's comrade in battle, hence here per- 
sonified. 

206. " Lightly," quickly. 

216, 217. Notice the musical quality of these lines. 

228. See Virgil's " ^neid," iv. 285. " Atque animum nunc hue 
celerem, nunc dividit illuc." 

233. Observe how this line suggests the slow, heavy tread of Sir 
Bedivere. 

238, 239. " Lines so steeped in the loneliness of mountain tarns 
that I never stand in solitude beside their waters but I hear the 
verses in my heart." — Brooke. 

248. " Lief," loved. 

252. '• Fix'd in thought." The first time he had merely felt; now 
he reasons out to himself why he does not throw it, a natural ad- 
vance. He is now justifying himself to himself. 

300. Malory says, " I shall slay thee with mine own hands." 

301-304. No reflection this time. 

307. The aurora borealis. Tennyson has literally translated the 
words. 

308. " Moving isles of winter," icebergs. 

310. " And never yet in poetry did any sword flung in the air 
flash so superbly." — Brooke. 

338. The eyes in a picture seem sometimes to follow one in their 
gaze. 

340. Silence was more pathetic than words could have been for 
his blunt and simple nature. 

345. Is the simile appropriate here? 

350. The mist of his breath surrounds him like a garment. 

353. " His own thought drove him like a goad." Why? 

354—360. " We hear all the changes on the vowel a — every sound 
of it used to give the impression — and then in a moment the verse 
runs into breadth, smoothness, and vastness; for Bedivere comes 
to the shore and sees the great water: 

'And on a sudden, lo! the level lake. 
And the long glories of the winter moon,' 

in which the vowel o in its changes is used as the vowel a has been 
used before." — Brooke. 

370, 371. Utter loneliness from all time to all time. Or would it 
have been more impressive to have had one man there, as in Tenny- 
son's " Palace of Art," 63? 

383. Cuisses are parts of the harness or armor for the thighs. 

388. An instance of Tennyson's occasional over-elaboration of 
language. 

401. Or three Wise Men from the East. 

403. The world was then supposed to be a flat disc. 

409, 410. " Goodness, growing to a pleurisy, dies in his own too- 
much." — Hamlet, iv. 7. 

427. Malory has Arthur say, " For I will into the vale of Avilion, 
to heal me of my grievous wound." The place is not localized at 
all. Elsewhere he speaks of the island of Avilion, meaning the 
peninsula made by the river Brue, on which Glastonbury was situ- 



NOTES. 1 3 1 

ated. That place was anciently called the Isle of Avilion or of 
Apples. 

434—436. It is a very ancient superstition, frequently alluded to 
in literature, that just before its death the swan sings a song of 
most ravishing sweetness. 

440. The earlier version called " Morte d'Arthur " ends with this 
line. 

Stedman says: "The poem weakens at the close. The epic 
properly ends with the line 440. The poet's sense of proportion 
here works injuriously, urging him to bring out fully the moral of 
his allegory, albeit the effect really is harmed by this addition of 
the sequel." What is your own opinion regarding this? 

445. Here again, with enough dimness not to jar on us, the alle- 
gory steals back. 



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SFP T3 1900 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 547 001 8 



AR> S SOHRAB AND RUSTUN 

H' SPEECH ON CONCILIATI 

' <^ OEMS— Selections . . . 

,''i i'OEMS— Selections . 

^ . S ESSAY ON ROBERT BURNS 

W .R'S PROLOGUE AND KNIGHTE'S TALE 
-. > IDGE'S RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER 

COOPER'S PILOT 

DEFOE'S HISTORY OF THE PLAGUE IN LONDON 
DE QUINCEY'S REVOLT OF THE TARTARS 
DRYDEN'S PALAMON AND ARCITE . 
EMERSON'S AMERICAN SCHOLAR, SELF-RELIANCE 

SATION 

FRANKLIN'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY . 
GEORGE ELIOT'S SILAS MARNER 
GOLDSMITH'S VICAR OF Vv^AKEFlELD 

GRAY'S POEMS— Selections 

IRVING'S SKETCH-BOOK— Selections 

IRVING'S TALES OF A TRAVELER 

MACAULAY'S SECOND ESSAY ON CHATHAM . 

MACAULAY'S ESSAY ON MILTON 

MACAULAY'S ESSAY ON ADDISON 

MACAULAY'S LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON . 

MILTON'S L'ALLEGRO, IL PENSEROSO, COMUS, LYCIDAS 

MILTON'S PARADISE LOST— Books I ami II . 

POPE'S HOMER'S ILIAD— Books I, VI, XXII. XXiV 

POPE'S RAPE O. ^HE LOCK and ESSAY ON MAN 

SCOTTS IVANHC 

SCOTT'S MARMIC.>I ..... 

SCOTT'S LADY OF THE LAKE 
SCOTT'S THE ABBOT . . . . 

SCOTT'S Vv'OODSTOCK ... 

SHAKESPEARE'S JULIUS CAESAR 
SHAKESPEARE'S TWELFTH NIGHT . 
SHAKESPEARlB'S MERCHANT CF VENICE . 
SHAKESPEARE'S MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM 
SHAKESPEARE'S AS YOU LIKE IT 
SHAKESPEARE'S MACBETH .... 
SHAKESPEARE'S HAMLET .... 
S.R ROGER DE COVERLEY PAPERS . 
buUTHEY'S LIFE OF NELSON 
TENNYSON'S PRINCESS .... 

WEBSTER'S BUNKER HILL ORATIONS 
WORDSWORTH'S POEMS— Selections . 



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